Cinderella Man
by Kira kira kira
Summary: Darry and Kim meet by chance after she helps one of his friends out. Once she enters Darry's life will she be able to melt the new cold personallity that he has obtained?
1. Chapter 1 revise

Disclaimer: I do not 'The Outsiders' but I do own Kim and the plot.

A/N This is chapter one revised, nothing much different but mopiece pointed out some mistakes to me and gave me some advice on how to make the chapter better. I plan on having the next chapter up and ready sometime Saturday or before! Hang tight!

Chapter One

I sighed and pulled my jacket closer to my body. It was getting colder every night and was making the walk back to my apartment close to unbearable. I hurried along the sidewalk of the east side of Tulsa. I wasn't a greaser per say, yet I sure as hell wasn't no damned Soc. I was happy being middle class. There actually wasn't that much of a difference between middle class and greasers anyway. Then again it all relies on who you're comparing… but generally speaking the only difference was less grease and just a little more income. Not much more. In fact most middle class families either hung on the edge of being a greaser or a Soc. I myself was closer to the greaser side of Tulsa.

I mumbled curses under my breath as the heavens opened up and it started to rain quite profusely. Pulling the collar of my coat up high to cover my neck, I started to walk faster. There was only about four blocks left until I reached the front lobby of my apartment building. I was coming up to the empty lot that I had walked by many times before when I spared it a fleeting glance. It was hard to see in the pitch dark with my only light being the old and battered lamp post, but I was able to make out the bulky form that could only belong to a body. It saddened me greatly that yet another young boy had probably died. All the young boys around here ran around with their friends in gangs. Useless and destructive is what I thought of them. That's why I never really conversed with anyone from the east side…or in all of Tulsa for that matter.

A movement from the corner of my eye brought my attention back to the body that I had presumed to be dead. I looked at it once again and jumped back a little in surprise. It had moved! Not very much but it had moved. The movement was then followed by a soft and almost inaudible groan. Rain pelted my face as I stood staring intently at the form. It hadn't moved for a while now and I was starting to think that it was just a figment of my imagination. But I was soon proved wrong as I watched as the figure tried to pull it's self up, but failed and fell stiffly back to the now muddy ground.

"Shit," I muttered and sprinted over to the body. Hood or not, they didn't deserve to die out in the freezing rain. My shoes got soaked as I ran through the mud puddles and over to where the body had collapsed. As I approached the body I realized that it was just a young kid. He was in just a short sleeved shirt and a ripped pair of jeans and both were covered in mud and what looked to be blood. If he wasn't dead already then he sure as hell was close to it. He was going to catch hypothermia at the rate he was going. I stepped closer to where the boy was curled up on his side. From the angle that his head was curled into his chest I couldn't see much of his face or upper torso. I squatted down next to him and placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking gently.

"Hey," I whispered gently. "Are you alright kid?" in response I got nothing but a pained grunt from the kid. I sighed and shook his shoulder a little harder, but still trying to be as gentle as possible. "Hey," I repeated. The boys eyes snapped opened and my pale green eyes were soon met with big brown eyes that were filled with fear. The moment he seemed to register that I was touching him, or hell that I was even that close to him, he used all the strength left in him to push me backwards away from him. Being caught off guard, I fell back into a mud puddle and landed hard on my ass. I was shocked to say the least as I just sat there and watched as the boy tried to get as far away as possible. I was not expecting that reaction out of him. Snapping out of my initial shock I went to raise myself back into a standing position when I saw that he flinched when I had moved. He must still be scared, poor kid. He didn't look any older than fourteen. I stopped my movement and sunk back into the mud that was now starting to soak me to the bone, along with the rain that was coming down even harder now. It was making it almost impossible to see the young boy that was a mere four feet in front of me.

So we sat in the rain and mud for what seemed like an eternity just staring at each other. His face was bruised, bloody and beaten. He was still partially lying down, obviously in too much pain to actually stand up and get away from me. From what I could tell from his position is that it was hurting him to breathe as he kept getting a pained expression every time he inhaled air. So he more than likely had broken or bruised ribs. I sighed, we both needed to get out of this weather and quick. I put my hands up in front of me in surrender as I moved to sit on my knees. He flinched violently as I moved but I ignored it.

"Hey, just hang lose for me. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help." I cooed to him. It was just like trying to calm a frightened puppy. I looked him in the eyes to show him I meant what I was saying. He looked at me with his big, frightened, brown eyes that were being covered by his dark hair that was plastered to his face from the rain. "Alright, sweetie. I'm going to get up now. I promise that I am not going to hurt you." I said gently as I started to rise up to my feet slowly, as to not scare him any more than he already was. I stood up and I was happy to see that he didn't flinch at all. "I'm coming over to you now. Please don't be frightened, I promise nothing bad is going to happen."

He seemed to finally accept that I was going to help him as he nodded his head, but I was no fool. I could see the fear in his eyes. I took the three steps that were between us and then I crouched down to where I was almost eye level with him. I was inches away from his face now and he looked like he so desperately wanted to pull back away from the closeness, yet he didn't. I don't know if it was because he gave up or if it was because he was physically unable to move at this point. Either way, it didn't matter to me. I smiled softly before reaching my hand out towards his face. He flinched so badly to the point where he almost completely fell away from me. I gave him another gentle smile and as gently as I could muster I combed the hair out of his eyes. He looked up at me surprised, as though he suspected me to hurt him. Running my hand softly down his face I lifted his chin up a little bit towards me. "You're safe now."

He did nothing in response besides stare at me incredulously.

"Alright, I need you to be tough for me you dig? I ain't gonna lie, it's gonna hurt when I start to lift you up but I need you to help me as much as you can." I whispered in his ear. He nodded in response. "Okay on the count of three I'm going to lift you as gently as I can." He nodded once more. I placed my hands under his arm pits and braced myself to lift him. "One-two-three." I lifted with all of my strength, he lifted with what strength he had left and we were able to get him to stand up. Bracing myself for all of his weight, I took his arm and wrapped it around my neck and placed my other hand around his waist. Luckily I was about the same height as him so it wouldn't be too hard for him to lean on me and walk. "Awesome job sweetie," I encouraged him, but it fell on deaf ears as he seemed to be fading out of consciousness again. "Oh, come on don't flake on me! You have to be awake for at least four more blocks. I can't carry you by myself." I pleaded with him. He didn't say anything in response but I could tell that he wasn't out just yet.

Making sure my grip on him was secure, I started walking back out to the sidewalk with him. He wasn't moving much but he was at least picking up his feet ever so slightly so I didn't have to drag him. But to my dismay, he was almost unconscious because every time I glanced at him his eyes were closed tightly and his head kept rolling unto my shoulder. At first he would pick his head back up off my shoulder as quickly as possible, but not anymore.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached the doors to my apartment building. I was close to exhaustion and he was already unconscious. The only thing I had to worry about now was getting him into my apartment and keeping him alive. My supposed ten minute walk home from work had turned into an hour long rescue mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders not me. I own Kim and the plot. Title is from the song Cinderella Man by Eminem.

A/N I know this isn't a long chapter but it's important so you can get a look into how Kim feels. THANK YOU TO ALL THAT REVIEWED! And please review some more, criticize my writing, ask questions! Enjoy.

Chapter 2

It was a hell of a time to get up the two flights of stairs that lead to my apartment. The boy was completely unconscious now and I was left to bear his full weight. Granted he wasn't as heavy as he probably should have been…but I wasn't no weight lifter. It surprised me that I even made it up one flight of stairs let alone two! By the time that I had made it to the front of my door I was panting something hard. I let go of the boys' hand that was around my neck and rummaged through my pockets until I grasped my key. I pulled it out quickly and jammed it into the key hole, turning it fervently. But of course it didn't just click open like it was supposed to. The door was old and peeling an off-white color. It had scuff marks all along the bottom of it from where it was forced opened, because of the faulty door knob. I sighed and started to jiggle the handle. It still didn't unlock. Aggravated, I gave the door a few sift kicks. It swung open violently and slammed against the wall. Muttering a string of curses, I heaved the kid and myself through the doorway before closing the door.

My apartment wasn't bad. It was clean at least, which is more than I can say for the rest of the building. It was right on the edge of the greaser territory, in a small part of Tulsa where there were no Socs or greasers, just middle class. Not to say that we had no problems and drama like the revelry between the Socs and greasers, just not as much. Middle class was generally left alone by the two, but that didn't mean that some of the middle classers didn't join sides with a Soc or a grease. In my opinion it was easier on my life to stay out of the conflict between the two and worry about my own problems.

After closing the door and locking it, deadbolt too, I walked through a small hallway and into my living room. It wasn't big, or small, I liked to think of it as cozy. There was an old couch propped up against the wall opposite from the hallway. And a love seat was perpendicular to it, facing the grotey television that was close to dying. I laid the boy out on the couch and then went to the bath room to fetch some towels. Walking back into the living room, I couldn't help but wonder what the hell I was supposed to do with the kid.

So I stood there staring at him. He couldn't be any older than 16. He was darkly tanned and had very dark hair, even as it was drying. The bruises he had all over his face and arms were a dark purple-reddish color, and he had a couple of cuts here and there also. It also seemed that he had a couple of broken or bruised ribs, but I wasn't sure, I wasn't a doctor. His shivering brought my attention back to the seriousness of the situation. Even though it was at least seventy-five degrees in the apartment, we were both soaking wet from the freezing rain. Still unsure as to what to do exactly, I walked over to him and lifted him so that his back was leaning against the back of the couch. I took a deep breath, and started to try to towel dry him. But it was futile, he was soaked and needed to be out of the clothes, and soon, his shaking was becoming violent.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing to do…" I muttered to myself, not like he could answer me, or come up with a different solution. My brain went into overdrive as I tried to figure out a way to do this. He couldn't wear my clothes. There's no way in hell that they would fit. He would have to use _his_ clothes. I pushed the thought away as quickly as it came up and walked towards the hallway and to a door that I hadn't touched in over a year. I closed my eyes and turned the knob. Walking in as I had always use to do, felt weird this time. The room was exactly as he had left it, only now with a thin coating of dust from nothing being touched in so long. I glanced at the dirty clothes on the floor by his bed before walking over to his dresser and pulling out a plain shirt and sweatpants. They would be a little too big for him, but at least they would be dry.

The next hour passed in a blur. I was on auto pilot. Had it been from going in _his _room and touching things or from embarrassment of changing someone I didn't know, I couldn't tell. Probably a mixture of both. But, upon returning to the living room, I had changed the boy, placed his wet clothes in the sink, and had put him to sleep on my bed instead of the couch so he could be more comfortable. He was still asleep by the time I had showered and changed my clothes into a giant, old hoody and sweatpants. I walked into my room with warm water, soap, more towels, alcohol and band aids. It would be a shame for him to get an infection from a dirty cut, after I had put so much effort to help him already.

He only had three cuts, and luckily for me they weren't too deep. They were all on his arms and fairly easy to clean, and I was right when I suspected mud had gotten into them. After I had poured the alcohol and warm water on them, I dried them with the towel, which, after lifting it from his arm, was covered in mud and dirt. I got all the cuts cleaned and bandaged in what felt like was no time at all. I was proud that I had gotten that much done, and he was starting to look better now that he was gaining some color back in his complexion. He had stopped shaking by now and the bruises on his face were starting to become more visible. There wasn't much I could do about them.

The only thing that was left that I could do was cover him in plenty of blankets and pray that he doesn't get sick from being out in the rain. And I did just that. Afterwards I put a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin on a small table by the bed. I then left him alone, closing the door quietly behind me, and went back into the living room.

The couch was still wet from the kid laying on it, so I sat on the love seat instead. I turned on the shitty television and tried to find a channel that would work, and not come in static like. Aggravated that it wasn't working, I turned it off and took a blanket out of the closet and settled myself down on the love seat.

I laid there for hours just staring at the ceiling. Sleep was not coming to me easy tonight. Not that it did any other night, but I thought that since I was so exhausted I would drift easily to sleep. So I laid there, the past four hours playing through my head continuously. The seemingly normal night had gone astray on my walk home from my work at the local grocery store. I had heard earlier in the day that it was going to rain tonight, so that's why I had brought my coat with me, I was grateful that I did. Everything was normal until I passed by that empty lot. Why I had glanced in it, I don't know. But I had never really paid much mind to it, that was, until a couple of hours ago. Had I not have looked, the boy probably still would have been there, or dead. It was eleven o'clock when I had passed by and I doubt anyone else would be walking by there anytime soon. I don't even know why I felt so compelled to help him. I normally left greasers to themselves, have the time they deserved the beatings they were dealt. But there was something different about the boy I had found. He didn't look mean and hard like most of the greasers. He looked scared and… innocent. Innocent. A word I couldn't believe I was using to describe a greaser. But that's what he looked like to me. He looked like he had been kicked down so many times that he had finally just given up hope. That was it. That's why I had helped him. Because he had looked so much like _he _did when I found in beaten and bruised all those years ago. Thinking about him still made me cry and my heart clinch almost unbearably so. I wiped the tear that had escaped down my cheek before I got up.

I walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet that held the solution to all my problems and more. I blindly searched through the cabinet, till I felt my fingers wrap around the familiar bottle. Puling the bottle out, I unscrewed the top and let some of its contents fall into my waiting hand. I counted eight sleeping pills that had fallen into my hand. There was a tiny voice in the back of my head that was screaming at me to take them all at once. And I was tempted too, and I was going to until I felt a cold chill sweep past my back. I shuddered. It was _his _way of telling me not to. I frowned at the pills in my hand and put six of them back into the bottle. I dry swallowed the pills, put the bottle back in the cabinet, and went back to love seat to try to sleep with the help of the drugs.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, liked, and followed the story! I enjoy the comments and please do not feel afraid to criticize. I am also in need of a beta reader, one who is excellent at grammar because mine sucks.

PLEASE READ! I know it seems like the story is going really slow but I promise it will pick up soon. I just didn't want a story that's like ' person meets the outsiders, falls in love, drama, blah blah blah, ending!' I wanted something that is like a story in itself. I want the readers to relate and love Kim like they do with all the characters in The Outsiders. Anyway… please enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter 3

It seemed like a lifetime before I woke up again. The blanket slipped off my body and fell to the ground as I sat up, stretching my arms as high as they would go. My neck hurt like something else though. "Damn, last time I sleep on this thing again." I muttered and tried to message the kink in my neck. A quick glance out the window and the clock only confirmed that today was going to be a long day, even more so than last night. It was still raining pretty hard and it was only six thirty in morning. I sighed again, stood up, gathered the blanket off the floor, folded it and laid it on the couch- now dry- and went into the kitchen.

The kitchen was fairly small. It was nothing special, a simple table with two chairs was up against the back wall. There was no need for any more chairs than that. I never had any company and _he _was gone. The wall on the left was lined with counters, a sink, stove, and of course a fridge. Like I said, nothing special. I riffled though the cabinets for anything that caught my fancy for breakfast. Cereal, no. Eggs, no. Toast, no. Oatmeal, no. As I kept looking I realized I wasn't actually hungry, it was just habit for me to eat as soon as I had gotten up. I wondered briefly if the kid would be hungry, if he was even up yet.

The images from last night flashed through my mind, freezing me on the spot. The rain, kid, and going into _his _room. I shuddered from the last thought. It was amazing I hadn't completely freaked out; hell it was nothing short from a miracle that I was able to forget for that long of a time that I even went in there. And it was yet another miracle that I still wasn't having a complete panic attack. I blame the drugs. They were making me feel numb, but I guess I could also attribute it to the little sleep that I had.

I left the kitchen and made my way through the living room and into my own room, the room where the kid was. I doubt he was awake yet, but I figured I should still check on him, at least make sure he was still alive. Turning the door knob as silently as I could, I pushed the door open and poked my head inside. The room was dimly lit, the large curtains on the only window in the room were blocking out the vicious morning sun. I crept into the room as quietly as possible, the floor boards squeaking only twice, and over to the figure on the bed.

He was still in the same position that I had left him in only about five hours ago. The swelling of his face had become a bit more prominent though. Not that I had expected it to get any better. Upon looking closer, I noticed that he would have a nice shiner on his left eye. It was completely black and blue, looked quite painful, and was swelled to the point to where I doubt the kid would be able to open the eye fully for a couple of days. He also had a busted lip, but it seemed to be the least of his troubles. I was forcefully brought out of musings when I heard something that startled me. His breathing. I stared wide-eyed at him, frozen, straining my ears to hear his breathing. Seconds ticked by and I was beginning to think it was my imagination. I had started to move my hand towards his face when I heard it again. It was like a rattily gasp, as though he couldn't take in enough air. Snapping into action, I moved the blankets off of his chest- being gentle- and pressed my ear against it. Soon enough, he took in another breath of air and I could hear rattling in his chest. Just what I needed. He probably had fluids in his lungs. Great. Fantastic! Can anything else go wrong?

I draped the blankets back over the kid, and then stalked out of the room, leaving the door open slightly. I was angry and I didn't even fully understand why. It just seemed that the poor kid was already going through enough; he didn't need more shit on his already full plate. I walked through the hallway and living room to the phone that was hanging on the wall by the television. My fingers subconsciously dialed an all too familiar number, and I leaned against the wall, waiting for someone to pick up.

"Morrisan Clinic. This is Debra speaking, how may I help you?" I heard after a minute or two.

"Hey Debra. It's Kim. I know it's early and everything, but I was wondering if Doctor Morrisan was in yet?" I asked.

"Oh, hello sweetheart! I haven't heard from you in a while! I've had the mind to be calling you soon but I never get around to it. You know how it gets down here sometimes. And I never have the time because Tom refuses to hire another secretary-" I sighed and let the woman ramble on. Debra was the secretary/ receptionist for Mr. Morrisan's medical clinic. She was a nice lady, don't get me wrong. But boy almighty could she talk! I let her yak on for another minute before my patience was up and I interrupted her.

"Um, yeah I'm sorry I ain't talked to ya in a while, but is Doctor Morrisan in?" the agitation in my voice was clear.

"Huh? Oh, no I'm sorry sweetheart. The Doctors' not in yet… Oh!" she paused and I could hear a door opening and closing in the background. "It must be your lucky day! Just walked in, here I'll give him the phone." In the background I could hear Debra scolding Mr. Morrisan for being late. His rebuttal was that he owned the clinic, so he could be at work any time he damned well pleased. They argued for a second before I heard the sound of the phone being moved.

"Hello?" Tom Morrisan's gruff voice greeted me through the phone.

"Hey, it's Kim."

"Good morning Kimberly. To what do I owe this unexpected phone call to?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you would be able to make a house call sometime today?" I asked anxiously.

"I'll have to look. Is there something wrong? You sound fine." I heard him ruffling though papers. More than likely looking at his appointments for the day.

"No, there's nothing wrong with me… It's my uh, cousin. He uh, got beat up last night and he looks pretty bad. He was in the rain for a while too." I explained. I felt some remorse for lying to Mr. Morrisan, he had helped me a lot, but I didn't want to tell him that the kid was just some random greaser I picked up off the road.

"Cousin, huh? I don't remember you ever mentioning having contact with your family…" I could hear the suspicion in his voice and I didn't blame him. He knew me very well, knew that I had no contact what so ever with anybody even slightly related to me. My body slid down the wall and I sat there on the floor, back against the wall with my head in my hand that wasn't holding the phone.

"Yeah, I know. Trust me when I say that it was unexpected." I breathed out. At least I wasn't lying this time. There was a long pause on the other side of the line before he responded.

"I see… well I have a couple of hours free until my ten o'clock appointment. I was going to do some paper work… but I guess I could swing by real quick. Would I be wrong to assume that you still live in the same place?" he questioned.

"Yeah, same place."

"Okay." He was going to say more but I cut him off before he could.

"Hey, thanks for this. I really appreciate it." The desperation seemed to thicken there as I thanked him. And I really was grateful for him. He was one of the only people that I knew that didn't treat me like the scum of the earth. Unlike the rest of the world, who seemed to take a liking in making me miserable at best.

"You're welcome Kimberly," I cringed at how he refused to call me Kim. "I'll be over there in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, and thanks again." I said, relief flooding my body that he would be here soon.

"Bye." Tom Morrisan said before hanging up. I reached up and put the phone back on the receiver. Then I just sat there. I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my head on top of them and thought. It seemed like history was going to repeat itself again. As if I didn't learn my lesson the first time. If I had learned anything it was that caring for people only caused pain. Nothing ever good ever came from it. So why the hell was I helping this kid! I don't even know him! I grabbed fistfuls of my long, dark brown hair and pulled, screaming in agitation into my knees. I couldn't take it, and I wasn't going to go through what I had gone through the last time.

I jumped up and started pacing around the living room. There had to be something that I could do to make this whole situation go away. Something, something, there was always something I could have done to stop shit from happening. But apparently everything I did was wrong. I groaned in frustration and sat on the couch, my head in my hands, thinking. I could always put the kid back in the lot where I had found him. It was still early in the morning so no one would be up to see me. And it's not like I would ever see the kid again. I never saw him until last night so why would there be a possibility of me seeing him again? Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll stay asleep through the whole process, leaving me to a clean getaway. That's it. I made my decision. I would drag him back to the lot where I found him and leave him there. His friends would find him soon, right? Then I would come back home and pretend that it never happened and when Mr. Morrisan showed up I would tell him that the kid had just upped and ran away. The perfect plan.

I violently forced myself off the couch and practically ran to my room and the boy. I pushed the door open and I was by the bed almost instantly. He still hadn't moved. I ripped the blankets off his body, but I noticed another problem. The clothes. He would be sure to notice that he was in different clothes. Oh well, it didn't matter. Not like I could wear those clothes and I don't have the time to change him. I was getting ready to put my hands under him, to lift him up, when I froze in my tracks. The boy moaned something inaudible as a look of pain flashed over his face. His face softened shortly after though, as the bout of pain seemingly left him, for now.

I couldn't help myself. I stared at him good and hard. He reminded me so much of _him. _The feebleness, innocence, abused puppy look. The situation was almost the same too. It was about five minutes later that I snapped out of my trance. I lifted my hand to itch an irritated spot on my face. When I touched my face I was surprised to find it wet. Wet with tears that I didn't even know that I had shed. I wiped them away and sniffed. I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave the kid out there alone again. I put the blankets back over him and tucked them underneath him. My hand subconsciously went to brush the hair out of his face, like I had done frequently with _him_. When my hand touched his forehead I noticed that he was sweating quite badly. He had a fever, but I would let Mr. Morrisan deal with that. He would be here soon enough.

I left the room again and went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. Grabbing a cup out of the cupboard, I placed it under the faucet and turned the water on. I filled it half full before taking a long drink out of it. Swallowed it all in one go. Then I stood against the sink, empty cup in hand, thinking about the last time this had happened.

"God damn it! Do you think this is funny you little shit!" my frustration boiled over and I threw my cup against the wall where it collided in a loud boom and shattered into a million little pieces. "Haven't I been through enough shit already!" I sobbed, falling to the floor. I rocked back and forth, my hands entangled in my hair. "Are you trying to tell me something? You trying to convince me of the 'fate' shit you used to ramble on about." I screamed at my ceiling. I sat there on the floor for a while until I finally calmed down. "You're sick, you know? I bet you're doing this all for your sick enjoyment. I hope you get your jollies off you sick bastard! You're a horrible friend." I must have looked like a nut, screaming at my ceiling. Standing back up on shaky legs, I wiped the tears that had streamed down my face and went over to clean up the now shattered glass.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Outsiders', S.E. Hinton does. I own Kim and the plot though.

A/N: Please read the note at the end of the chapter, it explains some things! Enjoy.

Chapter 4

It was four o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, and I sat stiffly in a chair next to my bed, reading some random book I had picked up from the drug store. It was a classic, so I figured I'd might as well read it. The book itself wasn't too bad, or the plot at least, but the author was starting to piss me off. Charles Dickens. Yes, I was reading 'A Christmas Carol' in the middle of September. It's not like I didn't enjoy Charles Dickens' books, in fact I quite liked him, but the fact the he was taking damn near five pages to describe one damn candle light was ticking me off.

I sighed and laid the book on the nightstand next to me. I glanced over at the kid and sighed again. It had been three days already and he still hadn't woken up. Doctor Morrisan said it might be a while before he woke up because he was so exhausted and sick, but I didn't think it would take this long. Mr. Morrisan had come over yesterday, just as he had promised. At first he had questioned my disheveled appearance, but I simply ignored him and took him into my bed room, to the kid. Of course he had given me a questioning look when he saw the kid, as if saying 'yeah right. This kid ain't your cousin.' We looked nothing alike. He had a tannish complexion, I was as white as they come- by choice though, I just never went outside in the sun light anymore-. He had dark straight hair and while my hair was dark, it was nowhere as dark as his and it had a little wave in it. Plus the structures of our faces were just completely different. In short, we looked nothing alike.

But he said nothing of it. Never mentioned it at all, and I think he had a hunch as to why I had this random greaser in my bed. Instead, he got straight to work. He asked me questions about the way I had found him and I gave him as much information as I could. Which wasn't a lot and probably didn't help him at all, but me feel somewhat useful as I stood in the back of the room and watched Mr. Morrisan do everything. In the end and after a grueling hour and a half he came to a conclusion. The kid had two cracked ribs, which Mr. Morrisan had wrapped and said that was all that could be done, and a slight case of pneumonia from being out in the cold and rain too long.

"Give him one of these pills every morning just before his breakfast," he said as he handed me a pill bottle from his brief case. "It's an antibiotic to help with the pneumonia. And if he complains about the pain give him one of these," he gave me yet another bottle, this one with a yellow top instead of a white one. "He is to have no more than three a day. Understand?" he looked at me sternly, over the top of his glasses that were just barely hanging on the tip of his nose.

I looked at the bottles in my hand. Okay. White top before breakfast, yellow top anytime, one at a time, no more than three. Easy enough. I looked up at Mr. Morrisan and nodded. "Yeah I understand."

He nodded and closed his brief case before standing up and heading towards the door. "Good. Call me if anything happens," he paused for a bit and stared at the ground. I waited for him to say something but nothing came. Suddenly, he looked at me with such concern in his eyes that it took me by surprise. "Kimberly, take care of yourself. What you're doing isn't healthy for your mind or body." He stated and then left abruptly, leaving me confused.

His last statement had left me confused and it was almost all that I could think about for the past day. Part of the reason why I had bought the damned Dickens book was to take my mind off of what he had said. Take care of yourself. Psht, whatever. I was taking fine care of myself. I had a place to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear. My bills were even all paid on time this month too. I appreciated his concern for me but I didn't need it. I was fine. For now.

Glancing at the kid once more and making sure that he wasn't waking up or anything, I hopped out of my chair and walked to the kitchen. The clock in the kitchen read ten till five. A good a time as any to make some dinner. I had a feeling that I would be dinning by myself again despite having 'company', so why not go all out? Yes, I was going to spoil myself and have a five-star worthy dinner. So I went to the cabinet and pulled out my trusty box of… Rice Krispy's. Cereal, the breakfast or in this case the dinner of champions. Or losers. I poured the cereal in a bowl and then searched through the cabinets for the jar of sugar. Rice Krispy's just didn't taste right if they weren't covered in sugar. And I mean a shit ton of sugar. Smirking, I pulled out the jar as I saw it hiding behind a jar of peanut-butter. Taking both the jar and bowl of cereal over to the table, I settled myself down in a chair and began to shovel spoonful's of sugar into the cereal. After about six huge spoonful's of sugar mixed in with the cereal, I had the spoon posed in front of my mouth. I was just about to take a bite when a loud thud made me jump and spill the cereal all over the table and the spoon fell to the ground. Well, I guess this meant the kid was awake.

Jumping up from the table, I sprinted to my bedroom. The door was open and I looked in and saw the kid on the floor, groaning and holding his chest.

"You okay kid?" I asked from the door way. I didn't really know what to do and I was never great with strangers. His head snapped up at the sound of my voice and he froze on the spot. I smiled, still unsure of myself and took a couple of steps towards his spot on the floor. He stiffened immediately so I stopped. I was still about three feet away from him. "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt ya," I spoke softly. He only looked at me for a long time, in which I didn't move, before he started looking around my room wildly. After realizing the only way out was past me, his eyes landed on me again.

"Where am I?" he rasped out, just above a whisper.

"Well, currently you're in my room. Which is located in my apartment." I answered and an 'no shit' look seemed to pass through his eyes for a split second when I had said that the room was in my apartment. I'll admit, it was a stupid statement, but I was nervous.

"Who," he was cut off by a violent coughing fit. "Are you?" he coughed again, only this time it was more scratchy compared to his fit before.

"Hold on a minute. I'm gonna go get ya something to drink." I left the room and hurried to the kitchen to grab a cup of water. I ignored my previous mess and hurried back to the kid. When I got there he had managed to pull himself into a sitting position against the bed. He looked up at me as I came in, there was still fear in his eyes but not near as much. I figured that he was finally settling down. Walking over to him, I silently handed him the glass before backing up and sitting on the floor about four feet away from him. He eyed me cautiously before raising the glass to his lips and drinking all that was in the cup in one gulp. I guess I would be thirsty too if I hadn't drank anything in three days. After drinking all the water, he set the glass down and stared at me.

"So, who are you?" he questioned nervously and started to ring his fingers in his lap.

I smiled. "I'm Kimberly Mason, but just call me Kim." He nodded in response and then stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, his eyes looking all over the room except at me. "So, uh, what's your name?"

Looking at me through his big brown eyes he said nothing, then lowered his head to look at the ground. "Johnny." He whispered.

"Does your chest hurt or anything?" I asked.

He looked back up at me, as though he was shocked that I was asking if he was okay. "N-no, I'm fine." He stuttered out to me. I looked at him curiously and cocked one of my eye brows.

"You sure? I mean, I ain't ever had cracked ribs before but I bet they hurt like hell."

"I've got cracked ribs?" he sputtered.

Tucking some hair behind my ear, I smiled sadly. "Yeah, ya got two actually, and a mild case of pneumonia. So I hate to be tellin' ya but you're gonna be stuck in this here bed for a while."

Johnny looked absolutely terrified and confused as I told him this. We sat in silence for a while as he seemed to digest what I had just said. "Why you doin' this, lady? Why you bein' so nice to me? We don't even know each other." He asked me, the confusion in his eyes burning bright.

A quiet laugh escaped my mouth. "Ya know? I really don't know why I'm helpin' ya. I've been asking myself those same questions for the past three days. I guess I just figured you looked like you'd been through enough shit and needed a break. We all deserve a break sometime. And as for the lady part, just call me Kim. You're makin' me feel old when you say that." I scrunched my face up. Nineteen was not old at all in my books. Johnny cracked a smile at my face but it fell quickly and a look of worry replaced it.

"I've been here for three days." He asked surprised. Hell, I would be surprised too.

"Yeah, I found you damned near close to death in that abandoned lot on Thursday night. Today's Saturday." I explained.

"Shit! I gotta go, the guy's will be worried." He exclaimed and then tried to stand up. I got up quickly and helped him up but then pushed him back onto the bed.

"Sorry, Johnny. But I can't let ya leave just yet. Besides the fact that you'd pass out before ya made it out of this room, the Doc said to keep ya in bed for the next day or two so you can regain your strength."

"What, you're a doctor now? I gotta go; my friends will be worried about me." He said quickly and tried to get up again, but before I could reach out to push him back down his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he slumped down onto the bed. He had passed out. Well, at least he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I sighed heavily before readjusting him so he was comfortable and covering him with the blanket. Leaving the door open, I left and went to ring Mr. Morrisan. He had probably just passed out from over exerting himself so shortly after waking up and from the shock of the whole situation, but I just wanted to be on the safe side and call any way. Sighing, again, I dialed the number and thought about the mess in the kitchen I still had yet to clean.

A/N: Thank you to all that reviewed and liked and what not! And a special thanks to Mopeice who has been giving me great criticism. I am still in need of a beta reader also. Anyway I wanted to explain why Johnny had 'some' courage here and wasn't completely afraid of everything. In the book it said something like Johnny wasn't as jumpy and afraid of everything until he got beat badly by the Socs, which hasn't happened yet. So yeah, anyway I hope I got his character somewhat right. It was kinda hard to do the whole waking up scene just cause… I don't really know but it was hard. Please review and enjoy!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Outsiders', S.E. Hinton does. I do own the plot and Kim.

Please read the authors note at the bottom! Vital info is there.

Chapter 5

Again, I found myself in a chair by my bed. It had been almost two hours since Johnny had his little freak out and passed out and he was still out. When I had called doctor Morrisan he said that Johnny would be fine and that he had just overexerted himself, just as I had thought. He also told me to get him to eat a little of something. So after hanging up with him, I moseyed my way into the kitchen and was greeted with my mess from before. I didn't want to clean it up, but I did. I had even considered pouring myself another bowl, but then realized I wasn't that hungry and instead set out on another task. Making chicken noodle soup. That's what people like to eat when they're sick right?

Besides, it was the only soup I could think of to make that Johnny was sure to like. Plus the doctor had said to give him something that would be easy for him to digest. So I slaved away in the kitchen for almost an hour while Johnny slept. Now, I was no cooking expert, but the soup had turned out pretty damn good. I was quite satisfied with it to be honest, and I'm rarely ever satisfied with anything I do. I left the pot on the burner that was on low heat to keep it warm, and went off to sit by my bed until Johnny woke up.

By the time that Johnny did indeed start waking up, another hour had passed and I was starting to get restless. I never was good at staying in one spot for too long without anything good to do. I watched intently as he started to move around. It was a little at first and for a moment I thought he was going to fall asleep again, but he soon rolled over completely and stared at me.

I smiled and gave a slight wave. "Good afternoon there sunshine. How ya feelin'."

He looked at me like I was off my rocker and said nothing for the longest time. The room was starting to become coated in an awkward silence before he rasped out a response. "My chest sort of hurts."

"Oh, I bet. You were supposed to take these pills when you woke up this morning, but I think there was a little too much excitement going on." Smiling, I reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the pills I had set out the night before. I handed Johnny the antibiotic and the pain reliever before giving him the cup of water I had refilled while he was out.

Johnny stared at the pills in his hands, as if wondering if one of them was going to kill him. His brown eyes looked into my pale green eyes, "What are these?" Johnny asked.

I pointed to the big white one in his hand, "That one is an antibiotic to help ya get over your phenomena," my finger moved to point at the smaller of the two pills, "And that one is a pain reliever." He nodded and took one last fleeting glance at his hand before popping them into his mouth and taking a long swig from the cup.

"Thanks." He muttered.

Saying nothing, I smiled and got out of my chair and walked over to the door. I turned around in the door way. "I hope you're hungry! The doctor told me to make sure you ate when you woke up, so I made some chicken noodle soup. Hang tight for a minute and I'll go get you some."

Johnny smiled in what I presumed was a thank you and I left and quickly went to the kitchen. Opening the cabinet, I grabbed a bowl and spoon before filling the bowl with the delicious soup. Debating on if I should get a bowl too, I set Johnny's bowl down and got another for myself. It had been a while since I had eaten and the soup smelled wonderful. With both of my hands full, I walked carefully back to my room as to not spill anything. I walked through the door way and set the bowls on the bed side table.

Glancing at Johnny, who was laying on his back still, my eyes met his and I smiled sadly. "Hey, not to be the bearer of bad news, but we gotta get ya in a sitting position so you can eat without choking."

Johnny nodded before stretching his arms out and trying to pull himself up into a sitting position. He about made it all the way up until his arms started to shake and that's when I rushed over and put my hands underneath his armpits and helped pull him up against the back board of the bed. He moaned quietly in pain as I got him situated so he could sit properly.

"Sorry," I smiled apologetically before handing him his bowl off the table. "Be careful, the soup is mighty hot." I warned then sat down cross-legged in the chair by the bed and began to eat my own bowl of soup.

Instead of eating his soup, Johnny simply stared at it.

"You okay?" I asked, setting my bowl down, in case he needed my help with something. He looked up at me, but other than that he stayed quiet. The look in his eyes told me that he was searching for something.

"Who are you?" he spoke accusingly.

My brow furrowed in confusion. "I already told you that I'm Kim Mason."

He gave me suspicious glare in response. "I know that, I ain't no stupid greaser. I meant why is a Soc like you helping me? You one of them Christian folk that's gonna try and convert me or somethin'?"

My eyes grew wide in shock. He thought I was a Soc? And a Christian? "Shoot kid, you sure do got it wrong. I ain't no Soc. And as for being Christian, well I believe in God, but that's about it. It's not like I go to church or anything."

"I don't believe you. How are you not a damned Soc, yet you got all this nice stuff" Johnny had gestured to my room. I looked around and saw my queen sized bed, a giant dresser, a vanity desk – that was rarely ever used- and the chair I had pulled up. The furniture may have looked expensive, but it wasn't. It was the cheap shit they made to look expensive but as soon as you touched it you could tell it was cheap as dirt. The only thing I noticed in my room that was actually worth money was some jewelry my grandmother had given me and a couple of trinkets that _he _had given to me.

"Hey, now" I put my hands up in front of me in defense, "I promise ya that I ain't no Soc. Half of the stuff in here looks expensive but it' s not. Trust me; once you see the rest of my apartment you'll see I ain't no Soc."

"Well you sure as hell don't look like no greaser." He accused, yet again.

"That might be because I'm not a greaser. I'm middle class if you must know. Though I don't see why what class I am matters." I folded my arms and glared at the kid.

"Of course it matters. Those damned Socs will jump anyone that don't act or dress like them."

"I just said I ain't a Soc. I'm not gonna jump ya, and it's not like all Socs are the same. Some of them are quite nice." I retorted.

He made an ugly face at me before chuckling sarcastically. "Shows how much you know. They're all the same. They jump greasers like it's some kind of game. Ain't none of them are nice." Johnny spat out.

"I didn't say that all of them were nice. Besides I told you, I ain't a Soc, so stop your worrying." I tried reasoning with him, also trying not to show that his stubbornness was pissing me off.

"Yeah, I get that you ain't no Soc. I'm just trying to warn your ignorant self that no Soc is nice."

My eyebrows shot into my hair line. "Oh, I'm ignorant now, am I?" I questioned with disbelief. "You think greasers are the only people around here that go through shit? Well then you're the ignorant one. You lot ain't the only ones that got it rough. And I'm not as clueless to the whole Socs vs. greasers deal either. I've see what the both you guys do to the other. I've seen Socs beat by greasers and I've seen greasers beat by Socs. So don't you go actin' like you greasers are completely innocent." I ranted.

Johnny's eyes hardened a little. "I ain't ever said we were innocent. You don't even know the half of it anyway. We only fight for honor and pride, they fight cause they're bored."

"Yeah, well you're both wrong then. You all keep fighting like that then it'll be just like a circle of violence, it'll never end. If you just stop then the circle will break and everything will stop." I argued.

"Are you an idiot? It won't stop. If the greasers stop fightin', then the Socs will take it as defeat and harass us even more. Do you not understand that we get jumped for just looking different? We didn't do a damned thing to them rich kids and they feel it's necessary for them to teach us something good cause we can't go out and afford expensive stuff." He was talking to me as if I was a retarded little three year old.

"Maybe you oughta just keep your trap shut. I ain't gonna sit here and take lip from some kid I helped out of the kindness in my heart." I snapped back.

"That's bull shit! You're probably gettin' money or something. Either that or your some kind of child molester."

"You ungrateful little brat! I ain't getting shit from helping you besides a headache and a pain in my ass! I helped you because I wanted to, not cause someone said I should or paid me to do so. I also ain't no child molester, that's just sick."

"Yeah, well… I didn't ask for your help. I would have been fine on my own." He muttered and looked down into his soup again.

I stared at him in disbelief and made a noise in the back of my throat. He looked up at me. "You would have been fine on your own? Do you even realize how close to death you were! It was damn near close to freezing outside and you were out there in the rain and mud in nothing but a shirt and jeans! You couldn't even walk by yourself and you were practically unconscious! Yet you could have made it home by yourself right?" I scolded him. "And it's not like anyone else would have come strolling around to help you. It was almost midnight and it was pouring outside! Face the facts, you would have died if I hadn't had helped you!" frustration was evident in my voice.

"I said I would have been fine. I'm tough; I would have made it just fine." Johnny said, stubborn as all hell.

"Yeah, real tough. How did you even end up in that kind of shape anyway? Were you 'defending' your honor against those Socs? Or did you actually do something that gave the rich kids a reason to bust you up that bad?" I asked, and by this point I was no longer leaning back in the chair, I was right on the edge, making my face only feet apart from Johnny's.

"I didn't do nothing." He muttered, looking away from me.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. What were your parents thinking anyway? Letting you go out so late all by your lonesome if the Socs were just gonna get ya. Why don't they file some kind of law suit or something so they won't hurt you anymore?" I asked, curious as to how his parents could just let him out so late.

He laughed harshly, staring straight ahead at the wall. "My parents don't give a hang about me."

The realization on why he probably hadn't gone home in the first place finally clicked in my head. I sighed and leaned back into my chair. "I'm sorry Johnny, I didn't know."

"That's right, you didn't. So you keep your trap shut." He seethed.

I was taken aback by his anger but I didn't say anything about it. I understood how he felt and I wasn't about to keep egging him on about it.

"Hey, why don't you tell me who it was that busted you up, okay? I know a couple of people who can get them to leave you alone." he didn't say anything and kept his head turned from me. I cocked my head to the right to get a better look at his face and I noticed that his eyes were red. He flinched slightly when I jumped out of my seat real quick. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you upset or anything. If you don't wanna tell me which rich ass hole did this to ya then you don't have to tell me." I rubbed his back gently and I was surprised when he didn't pull away.

"It wasn't a Soc who did this…" Johnny trailed off with a sniff. My hand froze on his back as the shock consumed me.

"Oh, Johnny!" I flung my arms around him and pulled him into my embrace impulsively. He got real still at first but then he began to relax and I ran my fingers through his hair. It was then that he began to sob. His whole body shook like a leaf as I held him and tried to calm him down. I had moved from the chair and was sitting on the bed, cradling his upper body to mine. My chin was lying on top of his head, my hands rubbing circles on his back and his arms were wrapped around me, clutching onto the sweater I was wearing. "It's okay, Johnnybabe. They ain't gonna hurt you here. Those rotten parents of yours ain't worth shit. May they burn in hell and worms gnaw out their eyes in their graves."

Johnny laughed a little at this before sniffling, he let go of my sweater and started to rub the tears off his face. "It's Johnnycakes."

I let go of him so he could sit up and looked at him confused. What was he talking about? "What's a Johnnycakes?" I asked.

He laughed again before taking the bottom of his shirt and using it to dry his face off. "My friends call me Johnnycakes, what you just said was too chick-like." He let out another laugh.

Men and their masculinity. I smiled and reached my hand out to ruffle his hair. He playfully smacked my hand away and I couldn't help but laugh. "You dig okay, Johnny. Even if you are as stubborn as a mule." He smiled while I got off the bed and straightened my clothes out. "Why don't you eat that soup before it gets any colder, savvy? And I'll go score us some playing cards or something to pass the time."

"Yeah okay."

"Cool, you need anything else while I'm up?" I questioned as I made my way to the doorway.

"Yeah, do you think I could use your phone real quick? I just wanna call my friend Ponyboy and let him know I'm okay." Johnny looked embarrassed, but I didn't call him out on it. It must have been strange to him to have someone act so nice to him.

"Is that a nickname or something?" his embarrassment went away completely as he laughed at the confused face I was pulling.

"Nah, that's his real name. If you don't believe me you can look at his birth certificate, says right on there Ponyboy." I could tell that he was fond of his friend by his tone of voice.

"I'll take your word for it and yeah I'll drag the phone in here when I come back with the deck of cards." I was halfway through the doorway when I heard him call my name softly. I turned around once more and asked him what was up.

"I just wanted to say that I was sorry for the way I acted." His eyes seemed to plead for forgiveness.

Leaning on the doorway I smiled probably the most genuine smile that I had ever smiled in over a year. "No problem there Johnnycakes, and I'm sorry for the way I was being too. Now eat that soup before it gets colder!" Johnny smiled and took hold of the spoon and I walked out of the bedroom.

A/N: Well the story is finally over 10,000 words long! Anyway straight to business, for the next chapter I'm stuck and need advice. Should I do another chapter of Johnny being sick and you get to know more of Kim through that or should I skip that move on to the next part, which will be about a month or two in the timeline and is when Johnny gets jumped by the Socs and you just learn about Kim as the story goes on? Granted if ya'll pick another sick Johnny chapter you're not gonna get all of her info, just a big chunk. Yeah so tell me what you all want me to do… anyway thanks to the two people who reviewed! Come on now the rest of you, review! It makes me write faster lol! And last but not least, what did you think about this chapter? Lots of dialog huh? So review and like please! Also if anyone can guess who _he _is and why he's important to Kim I'll tell you a secret bout what's gonna happen in the story!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. I own Kim and the plot.

Chapter 6

Almost two months had passed since the night that I had found Johnny in the lot. He had stayed with me for another three days after he had called his friend Ponyboy. According to Johnny, Ponyboy and his other friends were worried sick and were beginning to think that Johnny had died or something. But Johnny had reassured them that he was fine and would be back 'home' in a couple of days and told them not to worry.

So the rest of the time that was Johnny was with me we mostly talked, played cards, and when the television was working, we'd watch a show or two. I had gotten lucky when I called my boss for a couple of days off. Since I had not taken any vacation or sick days off in over a year, he actually sounded happy to give me the days off. Not that I argued with him, Johnny was still weak from being sick and he needed all the help that he could get. But by after eating a lot, and I do mean a lot, the kid probably gained at least five pounds, he regained his strength pretty fast and was up walking around my dingy apartment.

Through the three days that I spent with a conscious Johnny, I learned a lot about him. His parents fought constantly and beat him whenever they decided to take notice of him. So he spent as much time outside of his house as possible, taking residence at Ponyboy's house along with his two brothers. It was saddening when he told me that their parents had died a little bit ago, leaving the oldest brother to provide a living for the two younger ones. I admired him for that, Ponyboy's older brother that is. It couldn't be easy to lose your parents and gain responsibility for two kids all at the same time.

He told me that he and all of his friends were greasers. I guess he thought I would think of him differently because of this. Well, he was wrong. It didn't matter to me if they were greasers or Socs, I didn't care. As I said before, I took neither side. I didn't care for greasers and I didn't care for Socs, I ignored them completely in order to make my life as simple as possible. It normally worked too, until Johnny came along. There was just something about him that I couldn't ignore.

It was the morning of the fourth day of Johnny being awake when he decided that he should stop bothering me and go home to his friends. I tried to insist that he wasn't bothering me but he wouldn't accept it. Kept saying that he was fine and that he needed to confirm to Ponyboy that he was still alive, seeing as he had called him every day and was starting to say things like I had kidnapped Johnny and stuff. I'll say one thing for the kid; he sure did have an active imagination. I had talked to Ponyboy once, when Johnny asked if he could have my phone number, and he seemed like a pretty sweet boy.

It was when Johnny was at the door that I finally realized that I didn't want him to leave. It had been so long since I had constant contact with another person that I had never realized just how lonely I had been. And I didn't want it to go back to that way. So I pulled him into an embrace before he left and told him that he had to promise to come and visit me at least once a week or I would die a lonely old woman. It was joke that he had taken to, calling me old woman since I apparently didn't act my age of nineteen. He accepted quickly and told me not to cry or anything cause it wasn't tuff. My response was to smack him lightly against the head and tell him to wait a moment. I ran into _his_ room and went straight to the closet, where he kept his most prized possession. I walked out, back into the hallway where a curious Johnny stood, looking at the jean jacket that I held in my hands. He looked surprised when I held the jacket out for him to take. I told him to take it since it was getting colder and colder outside and he didn't have one. Besides, I had no use for it anymore, and it would do a lot more good if it was keeping Johnny warm instead of collecting dust. He took the jacket with a smile before heading out the door and yelling a good bye to me.

And that was the last I saw of Johnny Cade, well, at least for a couple of days. He stopped by for a visit four days after he had left, just as promised. It was nice to know that he did actually enjoy my company. And so it went on like this for the next two months. Once or sometimes twice a week, Johnny would come over to my apartment and we would talk or watch the television for an hour or two.

After a while Johnny started to notice that I was, shall we say, antisocial. I think what really brought it to his attention was that every time that he wanted me to meet his friends I would make up an excuse. I had work, laundry to do, I had a head ache. Anything I could use as an excuse, I would. Johnny may have thought that I just didn't like to meet people, but he was wrong. I didn't like to meet new people that I would probably get attached to. It just seemed like every time I get attached to someone they die, or leave. Desert me in some shape or form.

But apparently after two months of evading meeting Johnny's gang, he got fed up enough to actually drag me out of my apartment. Yes, the little shit actually had the nerve to forcefully remove me from my home. He had barged in and told me he wanted to show me some puppy that he had found outside, he knew I had a soft spot for dogs. As we reached the sidewalk in front of my apartment he grabbed my wrist and took off down it. I tried to get free, but let me tell you, little ol'Johnny sure did have a hell of a grip. I even tried dragging my heels into the cement, but that didn't stop him. So I resorted to, well, my last resort. Complaining.

"Come on, Johnny. The door to my apartment ain't even locked! What if someone steals all my stuff," I whined, still trying to pull my hand out of his grip as he kept walking to God-knows where.

"Oh hush up, ain't no one gonna steal your stuff."

"And you know this how?"

Johnny stopped and turned to look at me with what I presumed to be an eyebrow raised in question. I didn't really know if it was raised or not. His hair was once again covering most of his eyes, even though you would think with the amount of grease that he puts in it that the grease would hold it all back. I just shot him back an oblivious face. "Even if someone did turn up to steal your stuff, they wouldn't take anything. There's nothing worth stealing, 'cept perhaps all that jewelry you got." He said.

"Gee, that sure makes me feel better." I said, laying the sarcasm on pretty thick.

"Good, now let's go." And we were off once again.

I accepted my fate and started to walk alongside Johnny instead of being dragged behind him. "So where we goin' anyway?"

"To the lot. That's where me and the guys play football." He let go of my wrist and shoved his hands into his pockets.

So this was all an elaborate plan to get me to meet his friends. No thank you. I stopped in my tracks and refused to move. Johnny turned around a couple of steps later once he noticed I was no longer following. "You, know, I've got quite a bit of laundry I gotta do. So if you'll excuse me…" I turned to walk away but he had yet another strong grip on my wrist, again.

"Oh no you don't! I know for a fact that you did your laundry two days ago. So you're coming." Johnny stated, and started pulling towards the lot which was in sight now.

"You're soundin' more and more like a stalker there Johnnycakes."

"Shut your trap. You're the one that made me come and help you with it." He snapped.

"Well maybe I'll just start hangin' out with my other friends instead of you." I stuck my nose in the air and tried acting like a snob.

"What friends?" he said in a monotone.

His rebuttal left me dumbfounded. I was speechless for a minute and I could see the shit eating grin appear on his face. "Wise ass." Johnny merely laughed in response and pulled me across the street and into the abandoned lot. And as it names proceeds, it was abandoned. As in no one was in it but me and Johnny. Today was my lucky day! "Well, looks like no one came! What a shame, I was looking forward to meetin' your friends. Any who, let's go back to my place yeah? I made a pie this morning and if you hurry up I might just offer ya a piece." Grabbing his hand I started to walk back to my apartment. But I didn't get too far as he yanked my hand back, bringing me along with it.

"Chill out ya ditz, they'll be here in a bit." Johnny dragged me over to what looked like a junk pile.

"Wow, you're even insulting me now. I knew you were nothin' but a filthy greaser." I teased him as he pulled out a football that was under some trash.

"Ya better watch who you call a greaser you old woman!" He teased back as backed up from me about eight or so feet and threw the ball at me. The old football came flying towards me and I opened my arms to catch it, but instead it went through them and fell to the ground. This set Johnny into a set of silent laughter. "If you're playing with us, you ain't on my team," he sputtered out.

"You're funny." I replied sarcastically and tried to throw the football to him. To my dismay, it only went about half way between us and sent Johnny off again. He was laughing as he went to pick up the ball and a blue mustang drove slowly past the lot. Johnny and I eyed it as drove to the end of the street before turning around and coming back towards the lot. I walked over and stood by Johnny as the car pulled into the lot and four Socs got out. Glancing at Johnny, I noticed that his grip on the football got tighter and his eyes started to dart all over the place, like he was looking for something. My attention went back to the four approaching Socs and I noticed that they were drunk. Who the hell got drunk in the middle of the afternoon?

"Hey, greasers! What you doin' round here? Ain't there enough trash here already?" One with brown hair and blue eyes said and caused all of his friends to laugh.

"Nah, I think they're in the right place. A nice dump for trash like them. You here on your first date, grease?" The one in the middle of the group asked. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Johnny glance at his hand. I followed his gaze and saw that the guy had a bunch of rings on his fingers. I groaned internally, today was turning into a nightmare and I could only pray that by some miracle me and Johnny would find some way to get out of this alive.

"You all b-better back off. T-this isn't your turf." Johnny managed to stutter out.

"Yeah, and what you gonna do about it." The one with the rings said, getting closer to us. We both kept our traps shut. I knew better than to mess with drunks, they had short tempers and could get pretty nasty. "That's what I thought. You ain't gonna do nothin'." He paused and turned to look at me. He eyed me over and I felt the need to slap him and call him a pig. But I restrained myself, I valued my life. "What're you doin' with a dirt bag like this sweetheart? Why don't you come hang out with us? We can show you a better time this greaser will ever be able to." He slurred out and I could smell the putrid stench of alcohol on his breath.

"No, I'd rather not." I muttered and regretted it instantly. The Socs drunken smirk left quickly and his face filled with rage.

"What was that?" He towered over my small five foot two frame.

I gulped and with a sudden burst of courage that was about to turn into stupidity, I looked him right in the eyes. "I said piss off. What? Your daddy couldn't pay for a hearing aid?" I must have just sent myself straight to hell because Johnny made some kind of squeak in surprise and the Soc looked stunned before he quickly raised his hand and slapped me hard. The force of the slap sent me to the ground and seemed to start a riot.

Johnny, angry that someone had slapped me sent a punch straight to the Socs face. The punch landed right in the middle of the guys face and a sickening crack could be heard through the whole lot. Everyone froze, Johnny included. The Soc with the now broken nose wiped the trail of blood that was coming from his nose before grinning wildly at Johnny, who looked shocked at what he had done.

"That hurt you little shit and you fucked up my nose." He glanced over his shoulder and to his friends. "Hey guys, what'd say about fixing the little greasers' face for him? Huh, make him all pretty for his whore over here." He spat in the dirt by me.

"Sounds swell." One of his friends answered before they all walked over to us.

"Time to teach you a lesson, greaser."

I watched with frightened eyes as all of the Socs began to gang up on Johnny. Johnny looked like he was doing a good job at defending himself at first but then a Soc got behind him and pulled the jean jacket that I had given him half way off, restricting the movement of his arms. Luckily, they were only able to get one punch in at his face before he was able to wiggle out of it. The Soc who was holding the jacket quickly took it and flung it across the lot. The time that it had taken Johnny to actually get out of the jacket was what put him at a disadvantage, besides it being four against one. One the Socs had caught him off guard and grabbed his arms, pinning them against his back. Leaving him utterly defenseless as the others started to punch him as hard as they could.

When I heard Johnny cry out in pain I was brought back into the reality of the situation. They were going to kill Johnny unless I did something. I snapped my head around the lot and looked for a weapon of any sort that I could use. A piece of two-by-four that was only a couple of feet away caught my attention. As stealthily as possible I crawled over to it and picked it up. Standing up, I looked over to Johnny still getting beat up and saw with relief that no one had noticed me yet. When I saw a Soc bring his hand back to hit Johnny again I ran towards him and swung the two-by-four like a bat with as much force as I could muster at his shoulder blades and neck. I hit him right on mark and I heard the breath leave his lungs as he dropped like a ton of lead. All of the Socs looked at me angrily before the one closest to me came charging. I raised the piece of wood, ready to hit him too, but the Soc beat me to it. He grabbed it out of my hands and then swung it at me legs, making me collapse. The pain in my shins was killing me! I let out a scream in pain and the Soc who had just busted my legs threw the two-by-four straight at my face but I saw it in time and ducked, it just barely missing my face.

He walked over to my crumpled form and pulled me up by my hair. "You think you're tuff? Thought you were gonna save your little boyfriend, you piece of trash!" he yelled, jerking my hair around, causing me to scream in pain every time.

"You wanna know what I think?" I cried out.

He turned me around to face him and smirked. "What?"

"I think you and your friends are a bunch of candyasses!" I yelled then spat in his face. I watched as he wiped the spit out of his face. He then grabbed my face with both of his hands and forcefully kissed me harshly on my lips before back-handing the same cheek that I had been slapped earlier.

"You'd be pretty if you weren't so trashy." He looked past me and to his two other friends, the one I had hit was still on the ground, trying to regain his breathe. "Hey, why don't we let Cherry over here watch as we give her boyfriend a much needed haircut?" I looked at Johnny and was disgusted at what I saw. His whole face was bloodied and cut and he had tears pouring down his face.

"Johnny!" I cried out and ran to be by his side but the Soc behind me just pulled me back into his chest and held me there.

"Now, now, now. Where do you think you're going? Don't you want the final approval of your boyfriend's new haircut?" he mocked, in a sweet voice.

"Just quit! Look at what you've done to him! He's had enough!" I sobbed.

"He broke my buddy's nose, so we're just repaying the favor."

"You've done more than that!" I yelled and he put his hand over my mouth, muffling all of my screaming.

"Continue with the greaser's haircut, Mark."

"I hope you don't mind that a little of his scalp might come off with the hair! My blade is just so dull that I gotta push _extra_ hard." Mark laughed out as he pulled a switchblade out of his pocket and flicked it open. My eyes widened in fear. They were gonna kill him. In a split impulsive second I rammed my elbow into the Socs crotch and pulled away from him. I then leapt at Mark, who was getting ready to put the blade to Johnny's head. Johnny's eyes were closed, ready to feel the pain from the switchblade. But I had jumped on Mark at the right moment in time. I grabbed his arm and swung it in the opposite direction of Johnny. I felt a sharp pain in my side, but I ignored it and threw the blade to the other side of the lot. Mark glared at me and then grabbed me by my throat and started walking to where his switchblade laid in the dirt.

"You should've stayed out of this whore." He threatened, but his attention was caught on the sounds that were coming from down the block.

"Mark. Let's go! It might be the fuzz!" The Soc with all the rings yelled as he helped the guy I had hit with the board into the car. Mark gave me another look over before punched me in the gut and ran over to the car. I crumpled to the ground and tried to breathe normally. He had knocked the air out of my lungs with his last punch. My vision was starting to go blurry and I had stabbing pains in my head, side, and shins as I lay in the dirt. My head perked up as I saw a couple of people running towards Johnny. My heart started racing again; there were more people to beat Johnny up! I again went unnoticed as I was on the other side of the lot; I glanced around and saw the switchblade was in reaching distance. I looked over to Johnny again and noticed that one of them was extremely close to him, the other was just standing there and more were on their way.

I snatched the blade out of the dirt and staggered over to them as quickly as I could. "Get the fuck away from him!" I yelled and held the blade in front of me. The two boys that were there shot their eyes to me. I glanced quickly at the one that was just standing there. He was semi muscular and had brown hair; he looked at me with big eyes but said nothing. My eyes snapped to the one that was holding Johnny, he had light brown hair and brown eyes; he was good looking from what I could tell from my blurring vision. He just looked up at me with his mouth open. I took a step toward him and swung the blade at him. "I said let him the fuck go!" I yelled. I wasn't actually close enough to cut him, just close enough to scare them.

"What the hell are you doing?" The one that was just standing yelled as he backed up.

"Who the hell is that?" someone asked. I looked behind the guy and saw two other people standing there. Or at least I think it was two, everything was starting to move on its own accord.

"Like I know, Darry! She just came over here and started wavin' that blade round like it was a flag!" he turned around to talk to the person that was behind him. I took this time to charge at him with the blade held high. My plans were foiled though, when the guy he was talking to saw what I was doing and pushed him outta the way before hitting the switchblade out of my hand and pinning my arms behind me. I struggled to get out of his arms as the memory of what happened the last time I was in this position resurfaced

"Glory! Look at her stomach." Someone shouted in surprise. I lifted my head and saw that it was someone with long sideburns that seemed to be eating his face since my eyes couldn't focus.

"She's in about as rough a state as Johnny's in." A kid said fearfully, from somewhere beside the guy that was holding me.

At the mention of Johnny's name I started to panic again. "Let me go you ass hole! And fuckin' leave Johnny alone! He didn't do shit to you guys!" I yelled and tried to free myself again, but it was futile, whoever was holding me was strong. Way stronger than me.

"Man, what the hell is this broad's problem?" A familiar voice spat out from beside Johnny.

I glanced up and saw the one person I hated more than ever, even the Socs. "Piss the fuck off Dallas Winston!" I yelled at him and spit some of the blood in my mouth at him. He glanced up at me with scrutinizing eyes before it clicked in his head that he knew me.

"Kim?"

A/N: Well, how about that for a chapter! This was the first fight scene I have ever written so I hope you guys got what I was envisioning. And Darry was introduced! Yay! It wasn't a lot of him, but give it some time, I'm getting there. Thank you to all that liked and reviewed! Please more reviews, they make me write faster! Anyway I hoped you enjoyed, stay tuned. Oh and for those of you who don't know, Cherry is a slang word for a hot girl.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I do own Kim and the plot.

A/N at the bottom, enjoy!

Chapter 7

"You know this broad?" The one that was just standing around asked. I turned my head from Dallas and looked at him, well, I tried. My vision was still blurry and little black and white dots were starting to float around my sight.

"Who the hell you calling a broad, shit head. And tell your fuckin' gorilla back here to let me go!" I yelled in frustration and started struggling again.

"I see you still have that temper, Kim." Dallas instigated.

My head snapped back to where Dallas was standing. "I'll slit your fucking throat."

"Enough!" The ape behind me roared in a low voice. Normally I don't do what some stranger tells me to do, but there was something commanding about his voice. So I shut my trap real good and stopped struggling, for now. "Are you two done? Because there are more important things that need to be done than you two bickering." Dallas and I said nothing and I reverted to looking at the ground. "Good. Now Steve, go back with Ponyboy and Soda and help them with Johnny until I get there." He demanded of the boy that had been standing around like a stick in the mud. The name Ponyboy sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had heard it before and I was slightly confused as to why he had called someone Soda. Maybe it was a nickname, or maybe someone had a bottle of soda. I don't know.

"Yeah, sure." Shuffling and footsteps followed soon after. I looked up a while later and saw that three of the boys were hauling Johnny down the road.

"Where are you taking him?" I said, I had neither the energy nor the strength to actually fight anymore.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Dallas sneered as he took out a cigarette and lit it. "So where ya been this last year?" He stated casually and flicked his cigarette butt at me.

"Far away from you, ya no good piece of shit." I seethed out and tried to get a hold of him again but whoever was behind me was far stronger and kept me back.

"Enough you two! Go back with Johnny, Dally." The person behind me ordered. Truth be told, I didn't expect ol'Dally to listen to him. Dallas had a tendency to be as stubborn as an ass, and had about as much manners as one too.

"Yeah, sure. I was just leaving anyway. Nice catchin' up with ya, Kim." He nodded to the guy behind me before he sauntered off down the road.

Whoever was still holding my arms behind my back was suddenly very close to my ear as Dallas was out of sight. I felt the hot breath on my neck before I heard him talk. "Now are you gonna calm down? I really don't got the patience to deal with you right now."

I nodded my head in response and said nothing. In the next second I felt my arms being released and I stumbled away from whoever was behind me. I didn't even give the two people behind me a second glance as I started walking back towards my apartment.

"Don't really think you should be walking with your stomach all like that." I heard the one with the side burns call after me.

With only three or four steps between us, I still didn't bother to turn around. Instead, I just took another clumsy step that almost sent me flat on my face. "I'll be fine; it's just a little bruising. Tell Johnny to come over to my house when he's better and if that ain't in a week, then I'm gonna call the police."

"Is she off her rocker?" I heard the side burns guy say to the other, but I didn't care. I was determined to get home and go straight to bed for the next week. My body was in so much pain I could barely stand to walk without screaming in pain. I could still hear them talking to each other when I tried to take another step. Now, taking a step is pretty damn easy, but at that moment I guess the connection between my brain and my legs just wasn't working. As I went to move my left leg forward, my body seemed to move and not my leg, so naturally, I started to fall. I braced myself for an impact that never came. Two arms had grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back into a standing position.

"Yeah, you're really okay. And that bruising on your stomach that you were talking about is actually a huge gash." The one who had been restraining me said, right in my ear, again.

"Well ain't that swell. If ya don't mind, I'd rather you stopped touching me, and since you're so concerned, I'll let you in on a little secret. I am best friends with a doctor, so I'll have him fix me up when I get back to my place." I spat out and tried to move away from him.

"Oh no you don't." he said before I felt my feet leave the ground and his arms wrap around my back and under my legs.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let me down right now!" I screeched as he held me bridal style and started to walk back towards his buddy.

"She's pretty tuff for putting up this much of a fight in the shape she's in." Side burns said as we caught up to him and started walking in the direction Johnny had been taken in.

"Shut up, side burns. No one asked for your opinion. Now let me down!" I tried to get out of his arms but he just cradled me closer to his chest. Damn him for being so strong.

Both of them chuckled slightly before the one with side burns spoke up…again. "Side burns? I know they're a big part of my dashing appearance, but that ain't my name, babe." He chuckled out; I looked up and saw the humor dancing in his eyes, despite the worry on his face from the whole situation.

"Well, I'm sorry if I wasn't introduced to you all properly. So until you tell me your name you're gonna be side burns to me."

He turned and looked at me as we were walking and flashed me a quick smile. "You dig okay baby. The name is Two-Bit."

I huffed in the back of my throat. "That's a nickname right?"

"His real name is Keith, but since he never shuts his trap he got the name Two-Bit." The one who was holding me said. I looked up at him in surprise. He hadn't said much the entire time. Upon first glance, he wasn't too bad looking. Handsome, even. He had short dark brown hair and a strong jawline. He was looking straight ahead, not at me, but I still noticed. His eyes. They were a pretty blue, but they were as hard as ice. They had no emotion in them what so ever. I shivered from the coldness in them and looked back at Two-Bit before he caught me looking at him.

"Well, shoot. You weren't supposed to tell her my real name! What if she turns out to be some child molester? Huh? She knows my real name and could try to track me down or somethin'" Two-Bit mocked fear.

A child molester? What the hell? That was the second time I had been accused as a child molester. Did I seriously look like one?

"Shut it Two-Bit." The one holding me demanded.

I looked back up at him with a questioning glance. "And what's your name?"

He looked down at me for a second before looking straight ahead again. "My name is Darry Curtis."

"His real name is Darrell, but since no one cares about him he got the name Darry." Two-Bit mocked in the same tone of voice Darry had used.

"Not the time for jokes Two-Bit," I wiped the smile of my face real quick like. I thought it was funny. "Now run up and open the door for me."

I looked around at my surroundings and was surprised that we were in front of a dilapidated looking house. I really needed to start paying attention better. Two-Bit ran ahead of us and jumped onto the porch and held the door wide open for Darry.

Darry walked through the door and we entered what seemed to be the living room. There was a couch, an arm chair and an old television set that looked worse for wear than mine.

"What the hell is she doin' here?" I heard someone from the couch asked. I looked over and saw who I had failed to notice was on the couch.

"Chill out, Dally. Darry here brought her back with us cause she couldn't even walk. Besides, it looks like she helped Johnny out, so we gotta repay the favor and help her." Two-Bit said as ventured into another room that was connected to the living room. It looked like a kitchen from where I was…held.

Dallas scoffed and stood up. "Keepin' her here is only gonna give us all headaches."

"Oh piss off, Dallas. There's no need for you to ruin this family too." I seethed to him.

He glared and me, "I'm sorry what was that?" He pretended that he hadn't heard me and cupped his hand over his ear, his eyes egging me to go on.

"You heard me you third-rate piece of shit!"

"Oh, I'm a piece of shit? And what exactly have I done to perfect little rich Kim?" Dallas walked closer to Darry and me and out of the corner of my vision I could see Two-Bit standing in the kitchen door way, holding a towel. He was also joined by the boy who had just stood around. Stephan or something. Both were stock still and watching the argument in anticipation.

"You killed him." I whispered in anger.

"What was that? I didn't hear what you said over the nagging in your voice!" Dallas spat towards me. We were now only feet apart and Darry was holding on to me tight cause he could feel my muscles tense from wanting to beat the little bastard to pieces.

"I said you fuckin' killed him you jack ass!"

"Who? Who did I kill according to you?" He egged on, relentlessly.

"Danny! Danny you fucking no good bastard! You killed Danny! It's your fault he's dead!" I screamed at him and the whole house seemed to grow quiet at my accusation.

A/N: Sorry it took so long … it's been a busy week. Anyway at least you all found out who 'he' is. And thank you to everyone who reviewed! They really pushed me actually get this update up and out! So I didn't feel like writing for a long time because I'm going through like an 80s movie faze right now! Anyway I would defiantly recommend the movie Youngblood to anyone that likes Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze. Great movie. So review everyone and the next chapter will be out soon!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton does. I own Kim and the plot.

Chapter 8

"Man, what I wouldn't do to be that lucky little shit."

"Dude, I don't even think he knows how lucky he is right now. He's been out almost as long as she has."

"Maybe he's awake and is just playin' it up. Who in their right mind would wanna move?"

"Y'all wanna have a bet?"

"You keep talkin' that loud an' they'll both wake up."

"What's this bet of yours anyway?"

"Bra size man, she's damn near suffocating that lucky bastard."

"You're on man. She's gotta be a C."

"A C? Are you serious there Stevie boy? I know Evie ain't the biggest an' all, but come on! She's at least a D."

"Shut your trap Two-Bit. What do you think Soda?"

"I'm with you Steve. They're huge but they ain't no D's like big mouth over here thinks."

"You all think what you want. Y'all is just inexperienced little boys. Let the master show ya how to be a man."

"Yeah, and just what are you the master of? Rejection?"

"Laugh it up now Stevie boy, but just know that I've had more girls than you can ever dream of."

"More like you're the one who's been dreamin'."

"Both of you need to shut it before she wakes up."

"She hasn't moved in the past twenty minutes that we've been in here. What makes ya think that she's gonna wake up now?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the constant slew of crap that's been comin' outta your trap."

"You're funny. I outta beat the tar outta ya."

"You just wish ya could."

"Both of ya knock it off. 'Sides, how we gonna find out her size? You got some x-ray vision there Two-Bit? Cause I don't know if you noticed this or not, but her bra is still on her."

"…I haven't got that part worked out yet…"

"You could always just ask her."

"Yeah, cause that's gonna go over real well, Soda"

"Well what's your idea, genius?"

"…Someone should go look on the tag. They always got those little tags on the back of 'em that show the size, don't they?"

"Yeah, they do. So… who's gonna do it?"

"How bout Two-Bit, it was his idea."

"Hey! I had the idea for the bet, not the idea to undress her while she's sleepin' just to look at a tag."

"You ain't gotta undress her, just lift up the back of her shirt enough to see the tag."

"If it's so simple, why don't you do it?"

"I got a girlfriend, watcha think she'll think of me goin' and doin' something like that?"

"Evie? Who says she has to find out?"

"We believe in an honest relationship."

"That's the biggest load of bull-shit I ain't ever heard! She know you went to the races last night instead of catching a flick with her?"

"You had better keep your trap shut or I'll bust you up. What's your excuse?"

"I gotta a girlfriend too, ya know?"

"Give it up; we all know that you and Cathy are off right now."

"Oh, you both are nothing but a bunch of pussies. I'll do it."

"Alright, Soda! See, now there's a man Stevie boy."

"I hope you realized he called you a pussy too."

"Technicalities, technicalities."

I could hear the voices in the back ground, but I was still much too tired to do anything about them. I wasn't really following the conversation in my groggy state, but I started to wake up more when I felt the hem of my shirt being slowly lifted up. My eyes opened slowly and I groaned from the bright light that was coming in through the window.

"Aw shit! She's waking up! Come on, let's scat!" I heard someone from the edge of the bed whisper urgently before I heard three pairs of feet leave the room quickly.

As my consciousness slowly started to come back to me, I noticed that there was a heavy weight on my chest and my arms were around something. Looking down, I realized that I had Johnny basically in a death grip, with his head being cushioned by my boobs. This must have been why those boys were in here watching us sleep.

Embarrassed that Johnny's face was probably being close to smothered by my breasts, I released him and scooted away some. As I moved, my side gave a giant throb of pain and I hunched over from the sudden attack. The source of my pain was coming from a large gash that looked to have been crudely sewn together. I let my fingers brush over it gently and I pulled away immediately. It hurt like all hell and I had barely touched it. Pulling, my shirt back down over my stomach, I glanced around the room I was in, only to find that it wasn't a place I recognized.

The events from the other day came rushing back to me with such force that I gave myself a headache. Me and Johnny had gone to the abandoned lot to play a game of football with his buddies I had yet to meet. Then a bunch of Socs had showed up, and me, being the idiot I was, let my mouth get us in trouble. They beat up Johnny real bad and I had tried to beat them off with a board when they decided to beat me as well. It was then that they were going to kill Johnny that I jumped at the Soc with the knife. He was about to hurt me real bad when they heard people coming and ran off like the bunch of candy-asses they were. Johnny's friends up and took him back to the Curtis house, and no good Dallas Winston was there too when Darry had brought me in, against my will. I had yelled at him and he argued back about Danny. Darry then sent him to go check on Johnny, but he refused and instead stormed out of the front door like a bat outta hell. After things had calmed down, Darry had put me on the couch and told me to stay still as he stitched the gash on my stomach. The last thing I could remember was him saying that he was going to pour alcohol on it to keep out any infection. I remembered feeling an intense burning sensation before finally passing out.

Thoughts from the other day caused me to look down and take a real good look at Johnny. He was still asleep, and I was glad that he looked so peaceful, not in pain like I know he had been in. His face was once again black and blue and he had an ugly scar on his cheek. It was still puffy from the swelling and had dried blood caked on it. He was defiantly in worse shape than he was a couple months back when I had found him. It made me angry that the Socs would go and do something like this to us when we didn't even do anything to them. I wanted to beat the shit outta them so bad that it was starting to make my head hurt worse.

After I had calmed myself down, I decided that it was time to make an appearance. I slipped my feet over the bed and eased myself slowly onto the ground. The movement jarred my stomach and pain coursed through me for a brief minute. My hand instantly went to the gash and held it, as if doing so would ease some of the pain. I glanced over to the door that was almost directly in front of me, and calculated that it was about four feet from me. I could do this. I stood up straight and took small, baby steps towards it. When I reached it, I took ahold of the handle and twisted it open. It opened silently and I was suddenly in a hallway, with voices coming from the end of it and from what I could see and remember, the living room.

Closing the door behind me, as quietly as possible, I made my way down the hall. The closer I got to the end of the hallway, the louder the voices got and I could vaguely hear a television in the back ground. I was hesitant as I came to the end and just around the corner was the group of boys that I didn't know. I was saved the conflicting issue when someone came from the kitchen and saw me standing there, clueless. I stared at him with wide eyes as he smiled at me. He was the man who had stitched me up, Darry.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked politely, with real concern showing on his face.

I cleared my throat, "Good. Kinda…my side and head hurt pretty bad actually."

"Yeah, I'd bet. You got a pretty nasty cut on ya. Here, come in here and sit down and I'll go fetch you some aspirin." He gestured to the living room.

"Uh, sure. Thanks." I walked forward a bit and he gave me a slight push into the living room where three boys were watching what looked like to be Mickey Mouse and talking about something. Darry forced me down onto the couch, beside a handsome boy with light brown hair before disappearing back into the kitchen. The living room went silent, besides Mickey, when Darry left. I looked around and realized that I only knew one of the boys. They all just looked at me, and at first I just looked at them, but it got awkward fast and I tried to turn my attention to the television. I could still feel them looking at me and it was starting to get irritating. I was about to ask them what their problem was when the handsome boy that was sitting by me spoke up.

"What bra size are you?" He asked, as though it was an innocent question. I was confused by the random and personal question and I had blushed slightly from not being prepared for a question like that.

"Soda!" Darry yelled from the kitchen. I was even more confused by what Darry had said. Soda? Sure I was thirsty but I didn't want soda. I turned my head toward the kitchen and yelled back to him.

"No, I'm good."

The boys in the living room looked confused before laughing. Darry walked back into the living room with a glass of water and a couple of pills in his hands.

"What?" He looked confused as he handed me the glass and pills.

"You asked if I wanted a soda?" I questioned. I was pretty sure that's what he had said. The boy beside me started laughing even louder when I said this. I turned my attention back to him and I could see the laughter dancing in his eyes, even after he had calmed himself down.

"He was yelling at me, babe. Sodapop Curtis at your service." He flashed me a dazzling smile and offered me a hand to shake. I couldn't help myself but to laugh at his antics and accept his hand shake.

A/N: I know it's been a while. But I've been busy with my schools musical and thankfully this is the last week of it! Yay! I get to have a life again! Also I didn't get a lot of reviews on the last chapter, sad face. Thanks you to Mopeice who always reviews! And thank you to the two other lovely people who reviewed. So please! Review everybody! Give me some feedback on how you like or dislike the story. Give me ideas you might want incorporated into the story. Anything! Anyway, I have no idea how long it will take me to get the next chapter out, but some reviews will make me write faster!


	9. Chapter 9

I own Kim and the plot nothing else. Please read the author note at the end of the chapter and enjoy!

Chapter 9

"So what's a nice little Socy girl like yourself doing with a greaser like Johnny Cade?" The boy named Two-Bit asked me a while after we had all calmed down from the mornings eventfulness.

"I ain't no Soc like you all keep insinuating." Leaning back on the couch I closed my eyes for a moment to relieve the tension head ach that was starting to form.

The boy on my left, Steve, let out a snort before sneering at me. "Usin' such big words like insinuatin' and what not and lookin' all clean like you do, how ain't you a Soc?"

My eyes snapped open and I glared at the kid, he had no right to judge me, he knew nothing about me. "I'm sorry that I value hygiene and don't feel the need to grease my hair like some rusted down car" I shot back at him and felt regret almost immediately. The boy named Sodapop looked down as I said that and I understood why. What I had said could have been taken as an insult to him, not that I meant it that way, I was just tired of the Steve kid acting like I was a horrible person. I sighed deeply and reached out my hand to ruffle his shaggy hair, "Sorry, I didn't mean it as an insult to you. I just mean to shut that hoodlums trap over there" I nodded my head in Steve's direction. Sodapop smiled up at me with mischievous eyes.

"I'll forgive ya on one condition," he held up one finger and I nodded my head for him to continue, "What bra size are you?" He smiled another crazy smile and my face fell from irritation and shock that he was so determined to find out.

"You leave her alone Soda!" Darry called as he walked back into the living room, this time dressed in a wife beater, jeans and a tool belt around his waist.

"Come on Darry! She just insulted almost everyone in this room and was gonna make it up to me by answering just one little question." Sodapop whined to Darry and seemingly pouted as well.

"You bums probably deserved it. Now hurry up, you too Steve. I'll drop ya'll off at work on my way." Darry said as he started to fiddle with something on his belt. I knew I was staring at him but I couldn't help myself. If anyone in the room didn't look like a greaser it had to be Darry, he looked more Soc than I did at the moment. His clothes were all clean and wrinkle free and his hair was brushed back nicely with absolutely no grease in it at all. I looked down at my clothes and felt embarrassed. My jeans were torn everywhere and were caked with mud and blood, my shirt, in no better condition, was torn in places but the most distinguishable thing on it was the huge blood stain from where I was cut like a damned pig. I was filthy and felt gross.

"What about you Two-Bit? You staying here?" Darry's voice brought me out of my thoughts and into something I had not considered yet, was I staying here? Was I expected to go home now that they had helped me and I was capable of getting home without passing out.

"Believe it or not, I actually have some things I need to take care of today." Two-Bit said as he got off the couch and stretched a bit before pulling out a cigarette.

"I'll be damned, you actually doing something today instead of bumming around my house? I guess miracles do happen. Steve, Soda, knock it off we need to leave."

I looked towards the ground and saw that the reason Darry had said that was because the two boys in question were wrestling, it looked like Steve was winning, due to the fact that he was sitting on Soda's stomach. I didn't even notice that the boys had started fighting; I guess I really should start paying attention more.

"Kim."

"Kim…"

"Kim!"

I was startled when I heard Darry yell my name and I snapped my head towards the voice only to recoil back when I noticed how close he had gotten to me. He was standing right in front of me with a look of concern etched on his face, but the concerned looked quickly went away when he noticed that he had my attention. "Yeah…" I forced out, I had once again not noticed that he had moved closer to me. See what I mean about paying more attention to things?

"I asked if you would be okay here with my brother Ponyboy… I called your name three times." He stated as he looked at me like I was losing it.

"Oh, yeah sorry I wasn't paying attention…" I breathed out; my head ach was starting to get worse. I looked into Darry's cold eyes before I looked down at a stain on the floor. My forehead suddenly felt like ice and I flinched back from the cold sensation. I looked up to see that Darry had placed the back of his hand on my forehead and I gave him a questioning glance.

He glanced down at me and gave me what I could only assume to be a smile. "You have a slight fever and I guess it wouldn't be too far of a fetch to think that you might have a concussion." He said while taking his hand off my forehead. I wish he would put it back, his cold hand felt good against my warm forehead.

"I never hit my head…" I trailed off.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"…No…" I sighed, I couldn't remember if I had hit my head or not.

Darry rubbed his hand over his face before backing away a little. "Well, I suppose you should just sleep out here for a while… I'll get Ponyboy to wake you up every couple of hours just in case you do have a concussion."

"I…uh…well…are you sure it's okay with you if I stay in your house? I mean I could go back to my house… I mean cause really I don't know any of you and I don't know if I feel comfortable…" I stuttered out as Steve and Soda walked back into the room laughing and punching each other, but as soon as Steve heard what I had said he glared at me once again.

"What just cause we're greasers you're afraid to stay here? I bet you'd feel all nice and cozy in some Soc's house!"

"Steve shut your trap and go get in the truck." Darry ordered in a low voice that even I wouldn't dare to disobey.

Steve continued to glare at me until Soda started to push him to the door all the while punching and smacking the back of him. "Come on Stevie-boy! I bet you a pack that I'll get to the truck before ya!"

"You're on buddy!" Steve said before lunging out the door with Soda hot on his trail. I stared at the door in shock. Steve's attitude had changed so quickly that it seemed impossible. I moved my gaze from the door to Darry's in confusion.

"Is he bi-pol-" I tried to ask but Soda popped his head back in the door.

"Bye Kim! And I still wanna know the answer to my question as repayment!" He smiled his crazy smile at me before disappearing behind the door again.

"Soda!" Darry growled out to his wild brother and glared at the door where his brother just was. "Sorry bout those two. You have to learn to get along with them, especially Steve." He said turning his attention back to me.

"I like Sodapop just fine, he's wild but I like him. It's that Steve kid that irritates me." I leaned back and closed my eyes again.

"Steve's a difficult person. He may seem mean but he means well, even if he does sound like an ass." Darry chuckled out. My eyes snapped open at that sound. I could've sworn that it would be impossible for that man to make that sound. He had such a hard exterior. "Let me go fetch Ponyboy and make sure he's awake." Darry informed me as he started walking back to the back of the house.

"Nah! Let me go wake up the little shit! He should have been up already the slacker!" Two-Bit hollered from the hallway. I had almost forgotten that he was still here, he was being so quiet.

"Go easy on him Two-Bit! He was shooken up about yesterday." Darry yelled back as Two-Bit ran down the hallway.

"Sir yes Sir!"

"And stay outta trouble today Two-Bit! I know you're planning something."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah just go to work already!" I heard a door slam open before I heard a muffled scream and the creaking of a bed.

Darry sighed loudly and turned to me, a look of exhaustion sweeping over his face. "Just try to sleep. Once Two-Bit leaves it'll be a lot quieter round here. There's a blanket on the back of the couch if you get cold and just ask Ponyboy if you need something, I'll be back round 6 o'clock." And with that he gave me a small smile before going out the front door.

A/N; I AM SO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO WRITE AND POST THIS CHAPTER! I've been busy with a job and I'm just losing interest in writing but I forced myself to write this chapter because of all the lovely reviews and reviewers! Thanks to all that reviewed! I don't really like this chapter but I hope all the characters seem in character… review with good and bad! Thanks!


	10. Chapter 10

Don't own the outsiders, I own Kim and the plot blah, blah, blah you all get the point. There's an author not at the bottom! Read and enjoy!

Chapter 10

I sat there on the Curtis's couch in shock after Darry had left for work and Two-Bit had gone off to God knows where. They had just gone and left me in their home and they didn't even know me, I mean, I guess Two-Bit was still here with the Ponyboy or whoever, but they didn't seem much like the types for paying attention to things.

I had to get out of here. I was nowhere near comfortable in a house that I didn't know, with people I didn't know, and on the bad side of town. Panic and anxiety started to swell inside me and I knew it wasn't going to be good. I had to get out of here before it got bad. I needed to be somewhere familiar to me.

Eyes scouring wildly around the room, I stood up quickly and regretted it. My vision started to blur and I felt dizzy and nauseous. It wasn't long before I felt myself start to sway, and I soon fell back unto the couch, jarring my stomach and sending a shock wave of pain through my body. The pain was almost unbearable and I hunched over, as if that was going to help me feel better.

Minutes passed and some of the pain started to fade, so I tried to stand up again, this time much slower and using the arm of the couch for support. The pain was still present, but after straightening my back out the pain faded into a dull ache. I looked towards the hallway that I had come out of almost an hour ago and could still hear Two-Bit roughing around the Curtis's younger brother that I had yet to meet. Now was my best shot.

I made my way slowly over to the front door, and the seconds seemed to turn into minutes and I feared that one of the boys would come out and force me to stay in this unfamiliar house. I needed to get out of here as fast I could. Reaching the front door, I gripped the door knob and turned it quietly, trying to repress the screeching of the door as much as I could. My heart was in overdrive and I held my breath as I pulled the door open. The decrepit door let out a small squeak, my breathing hitched and I turned my head to see if anyone had heard. All was silent except for the rustling and yelling that was coming from down the hall. No one had heard, I breathed a sigh of relief.

In the next instant I had the door open and was slipping through it. But I couldn't stop yet. I was still in the vicinity of the Curtis's house and I needed to get at least a block away before anyone in the house noticed that I wasn't there. Without paying much mind as to what I was doing, I let go of the door and took a step forward…leaving the door to slam shut behind me.

"Damn it…" I cursed under my breath as I went stock still, hoping that once again no one had heard me escaping. No such luck this time.

"What was that?" I heard Two-Bit announce.

I was doomed. They were sure to come out to the living room and see that I wasn't there and then look outside from me. I lifted my head towards the ceiling on the porch and closed my eyes. 'God, I know you hate me, but please. Let Two-Bit be as dumb as he looks. Please just let him brush it off as a chipmunk falling out of a tree or something.' Desperation leads people to do crazy things. Such as praying, on a porch, for someone to be stupid.

"How should I know? Go check it out" an unfamiliar voice sounded. Must have been Ponykid.

"Nah, it was probably just some chipmunk or some jazz." Oh. My. Lord. I love you God! I thought as I heard the conversation and realized that the possibility of them not coming out of the bedroom may actually be possible.

"Two-Bit you got about as much brains as a turkey. That wasn't no chipmunk." Or maybe God still hates me. "Go check it out while I get dressed."

"Whacha getting' dressed for? Wanna be all pretty for robber? Gettin' a little scandalous Ponyboy" Two-Bit chuckled and I could hear him make his way down the hallway and towards the front door, which I was standing outside of like an idiot. Well, I knew for a fact that I wasn't gonna be able to walk fast enough to get out of view of Two-Bit, so I just moved to the side of the door and hoped he wouldn't glance there. I would be pretty hard to miss, but… Two-Bit didn't look much for the type of person who noticed everything, or at least I hoped.

"You're clever Two-Bit, real clever" The kid yelled up from his room and I could hear him making his way down the hallway as well.

"Hey where'd that one chick go?"

"You're real descriptive there. How am I supposed to know who you're talkin' about?" I could tell that they were both in the living room now. Shit. I could feel my heart banging against my chest and it was actually starting to hurt. "Maybe she went back to be with Johnny. I'll go look there, why don't you go look… somewhere."

"Yeah, yeah, you go on and check on Johnnycakes and make sure he's still breathin'" I knew Two-Bit always tried to be funny… but there was just something that I couldn't shake from the tone he had used. It sounded so dead and serious, and the kid must have thought the same thing because I heard him get real quiet.

"Yeah, sure Two-Bit" Footsteps sounded down the hall and the squeak of a door was heard. Those footsteps were then followed by more, only this time they were getting closer to me instead of further away. My breathing hitched again and I flattened myself against the side of the house.

The front door swung open and Two-Bit's back emerged. He took five steps outside the house and looked left and right before turning back around. His hand was reaching for the door when he noticed me.

He looked at me with one of his eyebrows raised. "Whacha doin' out here?" My heart was racing too fast for me to respond, so, I just stood there silent as could be and stared at him. Two-Bit's eyebrow dropped and his face softened a bit as he smiled. "Hey, I know it stinks in there but I promise you'll get used to it."

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes for a split second. "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to get some air" I tried to make a reasonable lie and opened my eyes to look at him.

"Shoot, there's plenty of air in this here house. Now come inside. I promised Darry that I would look after ya and I don't need him to have a reason to kick my face in" He laughed and grabbed my forearm and lead me back into the Curtis's house. So much for a clean get away. Two-Bit steered me towards the couch and once more I sat down. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds before he spoke up again. I was beginning to wonder if he ever shut up.

"So, not to be rude, cause I know how you girly girls get offended and what not real easy… But you look like hell."

I looked down at myself and realized that he was right. I was still in my muddy and blood stained clothes, and truth be told I felt disgusting and grimy with all of the dried blood. "I know, I feel like hell too."

Two-Bit laughed, "I'd bet! I ain't ever seen no chick put up a fight like you did when you shoulda already down for the count" his smile dropped slightly and he got serious. "I mean you were cut up pretty bad. Darry almost decided to take you to the hospital when you passed out, but Johnny woke up for a bit by then an' wouldn't let you outta his sight. I ain't ever seen Johnny that desperate to be with no one."

I stayed silent and thought about what he had said. "He ain't doin' to good is he?" I asked.

Two-Bit was silent for a moment and it looked like he was staring off into space somewhere. "Yeah, he ain't to hot. He's doin' a lot better though. Had you not have been there yesterday… well, little Johnnycakes woulda been worse off." I got the feeling that it must have been a real treat to see Two-Bit acting so serious. I happened to glance behind where Two-Bit was standing and saw the last Curtis brother that I still hadn't met yet. Two-Bit followed my gaze and saw the kid. "Hey Ponyboy, I found her."

"I see that. I ain't blind." The kid sassed and walked into the living room. He looked at me for a moment before looking away and taking a seat in an old arm chair. Two-Bit glanced at us both before realizing that Ponyboy was too shy to say anything to me and I was to… well I didn't know him and I felt like shit. I wasn't startin' no conversation.

"Pony, this here is Kim. Kim this is Ponyboy, or you can just call him whatever pops up in your brain. Honestly, I'm pretty sure he responds to 'little shit' more often than he responds to his real name." Two-Bit laughed and slapped the back of Pony's head.

Ponyboy grunted and swatted his hand away, "You're a real riot 'Keith'"

"Hey now," he pretended to be serious, but still gave me a discrete wink, "you've gone too far there Pony."

"Yeah, yeah sure I have." Ponyboy got up from his seat and started to walk towards the kitchen before turning around and looking at me, "You, uh, want anything?" He asked, with the tips of his ears turning red.

"Nah, I'm fine kid. Thanks though." He nodded and headed back to the kitchen and I turned to Two-Bit, as if silently asking why the kid was so shy. I thought living in a house full of boys would make a kid his age rambunctious and unstable. Guess not in his case.

Two-Bit just shrugged his shoulders in response, "He's just a shy kid. Never really had a chance to wild and outgoing with Darry being real strict and Soda already of done everything you could think of."

I just nodded in comprehension and laid back against the couch, sinking into the worn cushions. My head was really starting to pound against my skull and even talking was beginning to be a pain.

"You okay?" I heard someone ask with concern. I opened my eyes wearily and saw Two-Bit a couple of feet away with a worried looking Ponyboy hovering over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I just got a killer headache."

"You wanna take a shower?" Ponyboy asked. Both me and Two-Bit looked over at him shocked. "What? A hot shower always makes me feel better…" he trailed off at the end and looked down at his feet.

I couldn't help myself, I laughed out loud and I hope it didn't come off as rude to Pony. "That actually sounds real nice, Ponyboy. But I ain't got any clean clothes and it sure seems pretty stupid to me to get all clean and what not only to put dirty clothes back on."

He looked back up at me and smiled really wide. "That's fine. You can borrow one of Darry's shirts and a pair of Soda's shorts. I'd let ya have on of Soda's shirts but they're all greasy and he never washes them."

"Cool kid, it would mean a lot to me." I smiled. He smiled back and ran off down the hallway before I had the chance to say much else. Not more than one minute passed before Ponyboy was back with a pile of clothes in his hands.

"Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is." He motioned for me to follow him. I sat up slowly and once again used the arms of the couch for support as I stood up. I could see out of the corner of my eye that both of the boys were watching me with concern. It irritated me that they were throwing me looks of pity, but I brushed it off. I walked past Two-Bit and followed Ponyboy through the dining room to the door that I presumed was the bathroom.

"If you want someone to keep you company in there I'm available babe!" I heard him call from the living room, and was soon followed by his own hysterical laughter.

"Don't mind him. He thinks he's the funniest person in the world and can get away with anything as long as he makes someone laugh." Ponyboy explained from beside me. I smiled; he sure was a sweet kid.

"I reckon he does it more for the fact that he just likes that sound of his own laughter" I suggested and earned a laugh out of him.

"Betcha you're right. Well, here's the bathroom. It's not the cleanest place in the world but it ain't too bad. Darry makes me and Soda clean it often so it's not like Two-Bit's bathroom." I could tell the kid was getting uncomfortable; he kept shuffling around and wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Don't worry 'bout it Ponyboy. Hell, I wouldn't mind if all you had in there was a garden hose in the middle of a mud puddle."

"Ha-ha I don't blame you. There's towels and stuff already in there and the hot water only lasts for 'bout five minutes, sorry." Again his ears got pink and he looked embarrassed.

"Hey that's alright. Not something you can control. Besides, you'd be lucky if you were able to get two minutes worth of hot water at my place." He seemed to perk up a bit at this. I guess he just thought I would look down on him because he didn't have the money to spend on useless things. Neither did I and I think nothing less of him and his brothers.

I gave Pony one more smile of thanks before disappearing in the bathroom. I was relieved to get out of the dirty clothes at last and slipped into the shower as fast as I could. Pony was right. The bathroom wasn't exactly clean but it wasn't filthy either. There were just clothes and towels strewed about and a little bit of dried toothpaste in the sink. They didn't bother me as I took a quick shower and scrubbed all the dirt and blood off of me.

After my shower I felt better. My stomach didn't feel as bad and my head had stopped pounding a little. I dressed in Darry's baggy and shirt and Soda's shorts. The shorts were long but they fit well, then again, Soda did look like a stick compared to his brothers. I put my destroyed clothes in the trash can in the bathroom and left. I was mighty tired and headed back to the room where Johnny was so I could sleep. On my way there I noticed that no one was in the living room and the house seemed quiet. I shrugged it off and continued down the hallway. Standing in front of the door that I had stepped out of maybe three hours ago, I opened it and looked inside. Johnny was still there and was dead asleep, only now he had moved and was spread out all over the bed. He looked comfortable and I didn't want to disturbed him, but I wanted to sleep as well.

"Here, you can sleep in Darry's room for now. Two-Bit's left so it will finally be quiet round here." Ponyboy had snuck up behind me and scared the shit outta me.

"Jesus, kid. You gave me a scare." I took a deep breathe to steady my heart.

"Sorry" He said as he led me a little further down the hall and into what was probably the cleanest room in the house. There were a couple of books piled up on a desk that served as a nightstand for the large bed that took up most of the room. "This is Darry's room. He won't mind if you sleep here. If you need anything just holler, I'll be somewhere in the house" he said and then vanished out of the room, closing the door behind him. I wanted to look around the room more but I was too damn tires. I crawled under the covers and feel right to sleep, smelling a mixture of the shampoo I had used, which was oddly enough a fruity smell, and what must have been Darry's cologne. It smelled good.

A/N- Sorry about the lack of updates! I've had serious writers block! I know how I want it to end but I don't know what to write for the stuff in-between! Does that make sense? So does anyone have any ideas? ANYWHOM… any thoughts or comments on this chapter? I hope everyone is still in character and the chapters aren't too boring. Thanks to all of the lovely people who review! You make my day! So, let's all read and review!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Don't own The Outsiders, own everything else.

Chapter 11

Hours and hours passed and I slept undisturbed by anything. I didn't notice when Two-Bit sauntered back into the Curtis house hold, supporting a black eye and busted lip, raving about the adventure he had found himself in after he left. Nor did I hear when Dally had stumbled back as well, looking about as good of shape as Two-Bit. I didn't even hear when Sodapop and Steve slammed through the door and started up a very loud game of poker between all of the present greasers, except for Ponyboy. He was still on Johnny watch and was just fine reading instead of hanging out with Steve. Hell, I didn't so much as twitch when Soda flipped the table over and tackled Steve to the ground for cheating. But I did hear when Darry stepped into the war zone of a living and demanded silence.

"What the hell are y'all doing" Darry seethed as he walked in and set his tool belt by the door. Steve and Soda were still on the floor, frozen with Steve in a head lock, Ponyboy was in the arm chair reading and Two-Bit and Dally where both on the side lines of the fight, rooting on the opposite boy to win.

"Whats it look like we doin'" Sodapop mouthed off as he let go of Steve and jumped up.

Darry took his time in looking around the disaster area of a room before responding, "It looks like y'all are trashing the house. And what did I say bout being quiet today? Jesus, Johnny and Kim ain't gonna be getting' any better with you all horsing about in here. Is it really that hard to just do as I asked for one day? For one damned day?"

"Pft, you let that bitch stay here" Dally sneered and ignored Darry's obvious bad mood.

Darry gave him a hard look, but it was Two-Bit that spoke up. "What's your problem Dal? She seems like a pretty tuff chick to me."

"That little princess blames everyone else for her own problems. That's my problem with the brat" Dally huffed before he walked out of the room and into the kitchen, for a beer. Everyone in the room watched Dallas's back as he walked away in silence.

"I get the feelin' that there's somethin' that he ain't tellin' us" Two-Bit offered, bewildered.

"I bet she's just some broad that gave him hell or some shit" Steve put in.

"Enough," Darry interfered "you all need to get this here mess of yours cleaned up. I'm gonna go wash up and start dinner, and for the sake of God, be quiet."

Darry left them and headed to his room to get a fresh pair of clothes. I could hear his foot-steps getting closer and closer to the door I was behind. My breathing hitched a little and I closed my eyes tighter and tried to remain as still as possible as I heard the door knob start to turn.

Darry walked into his dark room and was surprised to see that in the center of his bed was a large lump. When he opened the door wider, allowing more light to flood the room, he saw that it was Kim under the covers, sleeping. He studied her still form for a split second.

"I know you ain't asleep." He called out quietly to her.

I stopped breathing all together and cursed silently under my breath.

"I have two younger brothers. I can tell the difference between fake sleeping and real sleeping" he stated as he walked past the bed and to his drawers. I had two options at this point. 1. Ignore what he said and continue to pretend to sleep, or 2. Face my fears and confirm his statement.

Sitting up slowly, I turned my body to face Darry with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. Your brother said it would be okay if I slept here for a bit since Johnny's gone and decided to take up all of the other bed."

He chuckled at my sad excuse of an attempt to explain why I was in his bed. "It's fine. I don't mind. I hope my brothers and their friends didn't wake you up with their rough-housing." He stated as he walked back to the door way with a handful of clean clothes.

"Ha-ha, no actually I didn't wake up until about a couple of minutes ago."

"Good, well, everyone is here so don't feel like ya gotta stay in here. Our house is yours and there will be some diner in twenty minutes if ya feel up to it." He stated as he leaned against the door frame. It was in that quiet moment that my stomach gave an animalistic growl that made Darry grin.

I blushed slightly and looked up at him, "Yeah, I think I might be up to some food." He nodded and soon a silence erupted between us. It wasn't awkward but it was far from comfortable. My fingers found a loose piece of thread on the comforter to fiddle with as I stared at Darry, taking in his features and trying to read his expression. He looked the same as he did this morning, only clearly more tired and dirty. But, it struck me instantly why he looked so different than he did earlier. He looked older. Looked older than he should have looked. I'm sure it must have aged him ten years just losing his parents, not to mention gaining full custody of both of his younger brothers. "Um, thanks for letting me stay here and what not" I mumbled and looked down at the comforter.

"No problem, and thanks for taking care of Johnnycakes. I don't know what we would do without the kid." He trailed off and stared not at me, but seemingly the wall behind me for a moment.

"He's a great kid."

"He is…" and with that Darry left with one last small smile directed towards me.

I watched as he left the room, his shoulders slouched and his hand making its way through his dirty hair. I sighed dramatically and fell back unto the bed with a cringe of the pain that it caused my stomach.

"Knock, knock!" a voiced called as a fist made contact with the door.

Startled, I sat up real fast and snapped my neck to the door way. It was just Sodapop standing there with a goofy look on his face. "Jesus kid, you scared me."

"Sorry, just coming to see how ya doin' back here." He said with sincerity that I didn't expect from him. When I didn't say anything, he stared at me curiously before wandering into his older brother's room and taking a seat on the bed. It was odd to see the seemingly happy go lucky kid staring at me with such a solemn face.

A gentle smile found its way on my face, "I'm doing okay I think. Sorry but Ponyboy gave me a pair of your shorts to wear, I hope you don't mind."

"Na, I don't give. I, uh, just wanted ta thank ya for what you did for Johnny." He said, looking straight into my eyes. "I don't think he would have been able to make it without you and all." He finished looking away. I was awed and embarrassed by the sincerity in his thanks to me.

"It's cool, kid. I'm pretty positive that any other person in this house would have done the same thing for the kid." I finally breathed out after taking a minute to figure out how to respond to the normally spunky kid. "'Cept for maybe Dallas out there." I muttered as an afterthought under my breath.

Sodapop's head snapped towards me at this comment and he scanned over my face with hard eyes. "You got that wrong. Dally loves Johnnycakes. He would do most anything for that kid."

"Phft. Dallas Winston don't love nobody but himself. Don't fool yourself kid, I know the real Dallas and he's about as full of love as those Viet-Cong are." I snorted out and bristled at the thought of cold, hard, greaser to the core Dallas Winston loving a poor street rat like Johnny Cade.

I watched in curiosity as Soda's eyes narrowed just a bit. "Man you sure you know what yous going on about? I know ol'Dally don't look like the type to be affectionate and what not to people but he loves that kid. He even went out and found them Socs that beat the two of you up. He won't tell any of us what he did but he's pretty busted up himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he was picked up tomorrow and sent to the cooler for a couple of days."

I sighed in defeat, Soda obviously knew Dallas better than I did now. "That sure don't sound like the Dallas I used to know."

"People change ya know?" he offered as his face started to soften again.

I shook my head, "Not people like Dallas, people like that don't ever change. They're too set in their ways to change."

"Well then maybe he just ain't as heartless as you make him out to be" Soda challenged once again.

"Nah, I know that boy pretty well." Maybe I had underestimated Dallas, maybe he really did change after I stopped talking to him.

Soda looked over me again with a twinkle in his eye. "So… how do you know mean ol'Dally anyway? Two-Bit out there seems to think that you two used to hook up," his head gestured to the door and where I presumed Two-Bit sat.

"Yeah, no. That's not how we know each other."

"Then how? I know Dally ain't the most likeable guy in the world but no one can hate someone as much as that without knowing them."

I thought about how I wanted to answer the question for a few seconds. I did not want to tell Sodapop everything about how I knew Dallas, but if I didn't tell him anything I was sure that he wouldn't leave me alone until I did. Or worse, he would ask Dallas about it. And I did not want him telling a story that was not his to tell, let alone the fact that he would probably make himself look good to his friends. They wouldn't want to be friends with a killer.

"Hello?"

But still, I was surprised that they hadn't asked Dallas already about it. I mean they knew him more than they knew me. So was there a possibility that he knew that the whole situation was his fault? Maybe he had changed and was ashamed of what he had done.

"Did them Soc knock you in the head or something?"

But even if he had changed he was still acting like the same cold, heartless, greaser that I knew all those years ago.

"Kim!"

"Soda! Quit your screaming."

"You're yellin' too Dar!"

"You best be knocking it off before I come back there and box your ears!"

"I'd like to see you try…" Soda muttered. "Kim." I felt a slight push on my shoulder.

"What?" I asked I shifted back into reality.

"Ya do that often?" he was looking at me as if I was some sort of a nut job.

"Do what?"

"Ignore people's questions and stare off into God knows where, actin' like your brain dead or somethin'."

I narrowed my eyes at the comment. "You're a wise ass kid."

"Don't I know it. Now answer the question." He smiled brightly.

"I had a friend that used to run around with him a while ago." I answered indifferently.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Well, don't that sound like a load of shit?"

I gaped at him. "Who are you to judge my story?"

"What story? That was nothing more than a statement."

I didn't know how to respond to his accusation. Probably because it was the truth. So I kept silent and thought. Soda was smarter than I had originally thought, and I'm sure that he fooled the others as well.

We sat in silence for a few seconds before Soda got too antsy and stood up. "Well I'm sure Darry's got dinner ready. You comin'?" he asked from the doorway.

It was dark inside of the room, so when the light from the hallway shone around Sodapop I took a couple of seconds to look at him. He truly was a handsome boy, and his insides were just as beautiful. He was worth more than people gave him credit for.

"No. I'm not hungry anymore. I'm really tired, so I think I'll just stay here and try to sleep some more." I smiled a sincere smile.

He smiled in return. "Whatever suits ya." He then bounced out into the hall and from what I could hear, tackled someone to the floor.

I smiled again before laying my head back on the pillow. The talk with Soda had left me mentally stressed and made me exhausted. Within minutes I was out cold, but I could vaguely remember Darry coming in hours later with a plate of food and telling me that he would sleep on the couch that night. My only response had been a mess of mumbles before I turned the other way in the bed and drifted back into dream land.

A/N: SORRY SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN UPDATES! I've been working on other projects and I'm trying to start my own original story as well. Anyway, I really like the ending of this. And my updates might be few and far because I'm starting college in a couple weeks and I'll be working full time so yeah, no life for me . But thank you to everyone who reads this and supports it in way! You make me smile! So tell me what you think of this chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N at the bottom! Enjoy.

Chapter 12

I awoke the next day in much the same fashion as I had the other day. By myself, in a dark room that had a little bit of sunshine peeking through the only window. Yawning, I sat myself up in the bed, my muscles aching more than they did yesterday. However, I was relieved to notice that my headache was completely gone. I was brought out of my thoughts as my stomach gave a noisy growl. I realized then that I did not eat at all yesterday and was starving.

Sighing, I heaved myself out of the bed with less difficulty than I expected. Walking towards the door, I noticed that the house was quiet. Dead quiet, and from what I had gathered about the Curtis household, it was rarely ever this quiet. Curious, I poked my head out of the door and glanced down the hallway. Not a soul in sight. My stomach gave another rumble before I remembered what I had originally got up for. So I tipped-toed towards the living room, being as quiet as possible. I had no intention of alerting the whole house, if anyone was here, that I was awake again.

The living room appeared to be empty and I was about to make my way into the kitchen before I noticed the youngest kid asleep in the arm chair with a book in his lap. I had two options. Be rude and riffle through the kids' kitchen. Or I could be polite and ask him. I really didn't want to wake him up, but with my luck as of late, ever since I was born really, I would probably make too much noise and wake him up anyway.

"Hey, kid" I spoke to him as I nudged his arm. He awoke with a start and swiveled his head to look at me at a break neck speed.

"…Hey." He replied after his heart calmed down.

"So…ah, where is everyone?"

He stretched his arms before answering. "Everyone's at work, 'cept Dally got hauled into the cooler and Two-Bit, well I ain't got a clue bout him but he ain't here."

I watched a car drive by though the window. "How's Johnny doin'" I asked after a while.

Ponyboy got out of his seat, throwing his book back into the chair, before glancing down the hallway and eventually resting his eyes back on me. "He's doin' better. He woke up for a bit yesterday and Darry says he'll be okay."

I nodded my head in understanding, not bothering to say anything else. Ponyboy on the other hand was a little put off by my silence and started nervously running his hands through his hair.

"You hungry or anything?" He asked glancing at me quickly before looking in the other direction.

Smiling, I ruffled his hair before replying, "You bet kid. I'm about to pass out from hunger." I laughed at my own dramatics and even drew out a laugh from Ponyboy as well.

"Come on. I'll see what we got. It might not be much though cause I think Steve an' Soda cleared out the fridge last night."

He led me into the kitchen and went straight to the fridge. I looked over his shoulder and saw that he wasn't making up no lie about the boys last night. All that was left in the fridge was a couple of beers, an egg or two and some jam. "I can make you some eggs?" he questioned, "I'm sorry we ain't got nothin' else. Darry was supposed to go get groceries the other night."

"Don't sweat it kid. You got any bread?" I asked as I took out the glass of jam.

"Yeah, I think so." He opened a cabinet near the fridge and pulled out a loaf of bread.

"Jam sandwich it is. Ya want one kiddo?" Ponyboy shook his head no as he handed me a knife to spread the jam. I shrugged my shoulders before biting greedily into the rather bland sandwich. Hey, food is food; it was better than nothing.

The kid just gave me a kind of disgusted look as he watched me eat. "Ain't that gross?"

"Eh, I've had worse before. Ain't you hungry?" As I finished my snack and looked at the kid expectantly. He was nearly as thin as Johnny.

"We ain't got much to eat. Nothin' sounds too swell." He answered, leaning up against the counter.

I sat there thinking for a few seconds. I really should help these people out. I mean, jeez, they sure as hell helped me. "You got the time?" I shot at Ponyboy.

He turned his head and looked out into the living room before turning towards me again. "A bit past 1, why?"

Nodding my head, I slowly got up and cleaned my mess up. "Well, kid. How'd ya fancy goin' to the store with me?" I asked, watching as he face went from confused to curious.

"You're gonna buy food? Like, for here?" He questioned.

"Like, totally." I laughed at his face. "I owe you guys a lot. It's the least I could do. 'Sides, I work at the store we're gonna go to so I get a discount."

"Yeah, okay. Cool." He answered before heading towards the door before I could say anything else.

"Where's the fire kid?" I asked as I followed at a much slower pace.

He looked up at me with a wondering face as he continued to ties his shoe laces. I chuckled quietly to myself before gesturing to myself. "You got maybe a pair of pants and a coat I could borrow to go out in?"

Looking over me quickly, he shot up and raced down the hall. "Yeah, hang tight for a sec."

I couldn't help but smile at the kids antics. I definitely understood why he was Johnny's best friend. He was back in a flash with a pair of jeans in one hand and a leather jacket in the other.

"Sorry, forgot about, your, ah, clothes and what not." He said, shoving the clothes at me.

"You're a pretty sweet kid there, Ponyboy." I ruffled his hair again as I made my way to the bath room to change.

I changed into the jeans and they surprisingly fit me well around the waist. They were way too long, so I had to guess that they belonged to his middle brother, Sodapop. I laid the shorts I was wearing on the edge of the tube before throwing the jacket on and looking at my reflection in the mirror. I still had a pretty nasty bruise on my face, and besides from being a little paler than normal, I looked pretty decent. Then again, most of the damage was done to my stomach, which was covered by the shirt and jacket. I pulled the jacket closer to my body and couldn't help but notice that it smelled like Darry's bed. A soft smile escaped me as I left the bath room.

I walked back into the living room and found the kid standing by the door, picking at a hole in his jeans.

"Ya ready to go, kid?"

He turned to face me with a shy smile, "You bet."

~x~

It only took us maybe fifteen minutes of walking, at a slow pace because it still hurt me to move too much, to reach the grocery store that I worked at. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Anna, one of the cashiers that normally worked on my days off. She smiled at us and did a double take when she saw it was me that walked in.

"Kim?" she questioned as she moved to walk towards us.

I waved and pushed a cart to Ponyboy. "Go fill that up with whatever you want. And go easy on the junk food!" I added as an afterthought as he started towards the first aisle.

"Yeah. Yeah. Ya sound like Darry." He sassed.

I smiled before I turned to meet Anna and tried my best to look as nonchalant as possible.

"Hey…" I started, but was quickly cut off.

"Girl, where have you been?" She asked, snapping her gum and pulling me into a quick hug before releasing me. "What the hell is this?" I stood still as she ran her fingers over the bruise on my cheek.

"I got in a bit of a scuffle." I laughed off then took a step back to get out of her reach. "Is Richard or Lucy in by any chance?"

"You're a shit liar. But Richard just left to the bank an' Luce is in the office." I smiled and was thankful that she didn't push the matter anymore. Sending one more look of gratitude her way, I made my way towards the back of the store, where the main office was.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. A throaty voice answered and called to come in. I opened the door and was greeted with the sight of Lucy siting behind her desk, going through her never ending pile of papers.

She looked up from her papers and smiled when she registered that it was me.

"Kim, my dear. Where have you been? You were supposed to work yesterday." She spoke as she motioned for me to take a seat in front of her. The situation reminded me briefly of high school, sitting in front of the Principal. "What happened to your cheek?" She added and sat forward in her seat to get a better look at it.

"I, ah, was trying to break up a fight and got caught in the crossfire." I hated to lie. Especially to the people I cared for and Lucy and Richard where pretty high on my list. But what I told her was not a complete lie, just not the complete truth either.

"I see…" I could tell she saw straight through my façade. "Am I to guess that this is why you did not show up to work the other day?" She questioned in an offhand manner.

I relaxed a little at her words and took a deep, calming breath. "Yes. I was pretty out of it all day, yesterday. And I really am sorry for not phoning in or anything."

"You seem to have quite the exciting life here all of a sudden." She replied as she swept a piece of her greying hair behind her ear.

"Tell me about it." I agreed with her. Ever since I had met Johnny, my life had gone from monotonous to a whirlwind of stress and excitement.

"Well, I suppose I can pardon the mishap from yesterday. You will be able to work tomorrow, correct?"

My nerves immediately vanished at her declaration. "I will be here. And I really am sorry about yesterday. You know it isn't like me to do something like that."

"I know, dear. Why else would I let you off so easy?" She chuckled as she got up from behind her desk to show me out of her office. "Now run off before I have the mind to set you to work."

"Yes ma'am."

I walked out of the door and said my goodbyes to Lucy before making my way to find what the kid had gotten himself into.

"And tell Anna to get her nose out of that magazine!" I heard Lucy call before I heard her door close.

Laughing to myself, I kept walking and eventually found Ponyboy in the cereal aisle. A glance in the cart told me that the kid didn't heed my words very well.

"That don't look like much food, kid."

I must have spooked the poor kid cause he turned around all quick like and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Geez, man." He muttered.

"Cool it kid. But seriously, I thought I told you to fill this thing up." All that was in the cart was a couple of boxes of cereal, hamburger meat, and a box of cocoa. "Come on. You are obviously not very good at grocery shopping." With that I pulled the cart from him and started going through all the aisle's again. Ponyboy followed silently behind me and every now and then he would throw in something he wanted, but not without a quick glance at me first. I would just smile in encouragement each time. I understood why he was hesitant. I would be embarrassed too if someone else was buying my groceries for me.

About twenty minutes later found us at the checkout with a full cart. I made small talk with Anna as she rung up all of our items.

"Alright dear, the total comes out to be $19.80." Anna smiled at us.

"Sure thing." I reached into my pocket before remembering that I wasn't wearing my own clothes and that my money was at home. "Shit, I ain't got the money on me right now. Will ya put it on my tab and I'll pay it tomorrow when I come into work."

"You got it. You two need help taking this out to the car?" Anna asked as she looked at collection of paper bags.

"Shit. We walked, and there's no way that we can carry this all home." I grumbled, cursing my own stupidity. I was normally more prepared than this.

"No sweat, chick! I gotcha. I can give yall's a lift. My shift ended five minutes ago. Let me go grab my jacket and tell Luce I'm takin' off." Anna exclaimed as she rushed out from behind the counter.

"Hey throw me the keys and we'll get everything loaded up!" I hollered to her. She threw the keys and I was for certain that I was going to drop them but Ponyboy caught them before I could blink. "Show off." I muttered before loading the bags back into the cart. "Let's get these in her car."

~x~

Anna gave Ponyboy and me a lift back to the Curtis household and we were able to get all of the food unpacked and put away before the clock struck three. Pony informed me that Soda and Steve normally came home around four or after, depending on how much horsing around they did, and that Darry was always home a little after five.

I fixed Ponyboy and Johnny some potato soup before kicking the kids out of the kitchen so that I could start fixing dinner, my way of showing my appreciation to the Curtis brothers. I had decided to make a meatloaf with mashed potatoes, biscuits, and, after being informed by Ponyboy, the very traditional chocolate cake that the boys were used to.

After slaving away in the kitchen for what seemed like hours I went to go check on Johnny. I hadn't seen much of the kid since I had woken up and it made me feel guilty. I was surprised to find both of the kids in the living room watching some game show. Pony was sitting on the floor with his back up against part of the couch, whereas Johnny was sprawled out over the couch.

"Hey, kiddo." I whispered to Johnny and nudged him to move over a bit. I watched as he painfully lifted his top half up and allowed me to slide in behind him, allowing him to lie partially on top of me. I wrapped one arm around him and let the other glide through his hair. It desperately needed cut but I knew he would never cut it.

"How ya feelin'" I asked him quietly. Ponyboy was either ignoring us or completely enthralled with the show that was on.

"I'm okay, I'm tuff. You should be more worried bout yourself than me" He replied with a huff.

I flicked him in the back of the ear and he flinched in pain. "Yeah, well quit acting tuff. You're in much worse shape than me."

"That hurt," He whined and rubbed his ear. "And if ya woulda kept your trap shut, they would've left ya alone."

The little brat was getting sassy with me, so I flicked his ear again. "What did I tell you bout taking your sass?" He whined again in response and I started again in a softer tone. "Trust me, I learned my lesson."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved me off before focusing on the TV once again.

We all stayed in the living room for another hour or so, just enjoying the peace and quiet before anyone decided to show up. The first to show up was Two-Bit. He came trotting in a little after half past four. He didn't even bother to knock, just came barging right in. I guess Johnny and Pony must have been used to it as they didn't even bat an eyelash when he came bouncing in the living room talking about only God knows what.

"Hey, good-lookin', whatcha got cookin'?" He asked as he plopped down into the old arm chair, beer in hand.

"Food." I answered in as serious of a tone as I could manage as I looked exuberant teen.

"Come on now baby, don't play me! Whatcha got a cookin in there for me? Fit for a King, yeah?" He ended with a loud laugh.

If he wanted to play, I could play along. "That food in there is for the Curtis brothers, but I do believe I saw a pile of dog dirt outside that would be just fit for you, yeah?" I mimicked him with a slight smirk. I heard both Johnny and Pony try and stifle their laughs.

"That's cold baby, real cold." Two-Bit emphasized by holding a hand over his heart before taking a swig of his beer.

"A little early for drinkin' ain't it?" I questioned while giving a pointed look at his drink.

"Darlin', it ain't ever too early to start drinkin'" He drawled before taking another swig.

"He ain't lyin'. Two-Bit here will drink beer for breakfast." Pony threw in from his position on the floor.

Two-Bit was about to say something but was interrupted by the front door being slammed open once again. Steve and Soda walked in, arguing over what I could only guess was some sort of car.

"Mhm, what smells good?" Soda asked as he kicked off his shoes.

"Food." Two-Bit answered, trying to beat me at my own game.

"It's meatloaf." I cut Two-Bit off before he could say anything more.

"Score!" Soda exclaimed, "We ain't had meatloaf in forever."

"What's all the noise about?" A new voice asked and I craned my neck to see who was standing behind Steve.

"Little Kimmy home maker over here made us dinner" Two-Bit threw in as he got up to go and see what Steve and Soda where getting themselves into in the other room.

Darry gave me a questioning gaze and I just shrugged my shoulders. "It was the least I could do."

"You really didn't have to do anything." Darry tried to come back with but I wasn't having any of it. I slid off the couch; gently lay a sleeping Johnny on the arm rest, before patting down my shirt, well, Darry's shirt really.

"I wanted to though. So no arguing. I'm gonna go ahead and head home though."

"Stay for dinner at least. You did cook it." Darry cut me off.

I smiled at the gesture but shook my head. "I can't. I've got work tomorrow and I ain't very hungry anyway. But if you don't mind I would like to come over tomorrow. Check on Johnny and stuff, ya know?" I asked nervously, hoping that he wouldn't say no. I mean, he didn't seem like the type of person to forbid me from coming over again, but what did I know?

"I don't mind. You know you can always come here if you ever need anything." He said as more of a statement to me than a question.

I smiled sincerely at him. He was just like Sodapop, but in a rough around the edges kind of way. But in all honesty, this whole family was so kind and inviting and made me miss what I used to have.

"I appreciate the offer." I said, moving towards the door. "Well, I hope everything tastes good." I had my hand on the door knob and was in the process of turning it when Darry interrupted me again.

"At least let me walk you home." I was going to say no, that I would be fine, but he had already shoved his jacket back on and was on my heels, obviously leaving me no question in the matter.

"Sure. I'd like that." I smiled at him and he returned it with his own. A real smile, not a forced one I had seen him give Pony or Soda on occasion.

~x~

The walk back to my apartment took no longer than ten minutes. Darry and I made small talk and I found him just as easy to talk to as I had with Soda and Ponyboy. I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed our walk back to my home. I don't think I would be too wrong in saying that Darry enjoyed it a little as well. He seemed a lot less tense and even let out a hearty laugh a couple of times.

As we reached my apartment building I bid him goodbye before making the lonely trek up the stair cases and to my apartment door. I was relieved to find that no one had bothered to steal any of my things in my absence. I locked the door behind me and let out a long sigh when I suddenly felt very lonely. My apartment was a lot colder than the warmth that Curtis's house had given off, even with the heater turned on at full blast.

~x~

Holy shit! It has been more than a year since I have updated this story! I apologize! But in all seriousness, I just haven't been into the outsiders for a long time and then out of the blue a couple of days ago I found the enthusiasm to write again. That being, said, I literally wrote this monster of a chapter in like 6 hours. So, what do you think? Questions? Concerns? Comments? Give em to me!


End file.
